CRB 4407
by Jintsu
Summary: Chapter Six: New revelations for the dimensionality and chronologically displaced. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**CRB 4407**

**By Jintsu Wednesday, November 15, 2006**

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**Disclaimer:**

All characters, names, and what ever else are property of Gainax, Movic, TV Tokyo, NAS, ADV Films, Wedge Link, OB Planning, Pastel, Studio Gallop, Frontline, Avex, TOKYOPOP, AIC, Artmic, Youmex, or whomever else I am forgetting to name. Just so they all know they are getting credit for the characters. As much as it agonizes me to say this, I did not create any of these characters except for Sato Hitomi and Kurokawa Masahiro. Much to my disappointment, I also did not create the initial plot for this series. That credit goes to Hideaki Anno alone.

So the hoard of slavering lawyers can go lie down for a century or two. This was written for fun, not for profit. I'm only borrowing the characters for a little while. I promise I'll give them back!

A tip of the hat to DartzIRL for reading this and giving me inspiration to continue.

Also a BIG thank-you to Hamstadini for pre-reading and constructive criticism.

And to my reviewers: Thank you very much. You made my day by reading my fic and leaving reviews. That just makes it a little easier to keep going.

Photos for this fic are on a link on my profile page.

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**CHAPTER ONE**

**Hateshinai Tabi--Hajimari no Toki **

_You can't take it with you,_

_No matter what you do._

_You can't take it with you,_

_Not the place you're going to._

_The Allan Parsons Project:_

_Can't Take It With You_

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CANTON-AKRON AIRPORT:

MAY 11TH, 2007

5:30 A.M.

"Will the owner of a red Camaro, Ohio license plate number CRB 4407, please come to the information desk?"

"Oh, crap. What now?" I say as I butt out my cigarette and log off my laptop.

"Maybe you double-parked it when you came in?' a dishwater blonde haired woman smirked over her laptop, her blue eyes slightly hidden by her designer glasses.

The usual business type person, she was dressed conservatively in brown. Obviously one of the middle-management type drones, going to Japan as a surrogate sacrifice for her employers. As I passed by, I could see she had an HP laptop. Some kind of logo on the back: a circle with an inverted triangle, with two letter "A"s in the center. Noticing her key ring, I sarcastically replied, "Maybe they want me to move my car, so they can sweep-up the pieces of the Miata I crushed when I double-parked. It was blue, wasn't it?"

The incoherent noises and look on her face as I walked by and entered the causeway: priceless!

As I strolled over to the information desk, my laptop slung over my left shoulder, I could see why I had been paged. A brown-haired semi-close copy of me was standing at the info desk talking with the girl behind the counter. My best friend, IT guru, and sometimes employer, we had known each other for over seven years. Ken Robinson had helped me rebuild my life, my car, and my mind after my last disaster of a relationship. I helped him build his business, move into his new apartment, and set-up his bachelor party. Ken and Ginger are the family that I never had, and I would do anything for them.

"Ken, what are you doing here now? I thought you didn't have to work 'till later?" I inquired softly.

"Yah, that was the plan, but I thought I'd come by now and see you off. Besides, I know you don't like to leave "Iron Helix" in a parking lot," he replied jokingly.

I was really touched by his thoughtfulness; I don't like to leave my car anywhere, it took us four years to restore it from the rattletrap it once was.

"Hey, thanks. Thanks a lot," I muttered, my throat going dry.

He walked up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. Then he locked eyes with me and stated in a caring voice, "You know, it's the least I could do after what you did for us for our wedding."

I looked down, breaking eye contact, and replied slightly embarrassed, "That's what a best man is supposed to do for the groom."

Before I could be discomposed any further, the PA system announced," Final call for United Airlines flight 6801, Kansai International via Chicago-O'Hare."

Looking up, with my trademark smirk, I stated, "I gotta go man, can't miss this flight."

Ken released my shoulders, and we firmly shook hands. As I turned and raced for the gate, I could hear him shout, "Take care, Roger, and we hope you find someone over there to share your vacation with."

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**OVER THE DEVIL'S SEA**

**SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF JAPAN**

As I wake, I sense something is wrong. I don't feel right. Everything smells sharper. I open my eyes and everything is in focus except for one thing; no glasses. I always look for my glasses on my face when I wake up. I move my hand up to check the top of my head when I notice my hand. I bring it closer to my face. There are NO wrinkles! NO AGE SPOTS! I start to wonder about this when I hear the passengers behind me. They are speaking in Nihongo but I understand it. I only know it from anime. How...?

Thoughts bombard me. I see myself as always: a forty-nine year old, six foot tall, brown-eyed, salt-and-pepper haired Caucasian. I now also see superimposed over this image, a fourteen year old, five feet something red-haired and green-eyed Asian.

My mind at this point is like a dog chasing its own tail: running in circles and confused as hell. I snap forward in my seat, looking at myself. I was dressed in Western wear when I boarded the aircraft: Stetson hat, Dan Post boots, Levi's jeans, red Western bib shirt, and a Filson duster. Now I'm dressed in New Balance trainers, some type of jean cargo pants, and a loud print shirt with a brown leather jacket over top of it.

_WHAT THE __HELL__ IS GOING ON!_

A memory of school, but it seems like two lives. Training in Nevada...

_WAITAMINIT! I NEVER TRAINED ON THE __GROUND__ IN NEVADA!_

Rumbling from beneath my seat. The flaps are coming down, landing gear next.

I feel TERRIFIED in this aircraft!

_I'VE NEVER BEEN FRIGHTENED IN CIVILIAN AIRCRAFT!!!!_

I see another set of memories, where "I" was in an aircraft accident in Nevada. An earthquake decimated the airport as "we" were landing. Fire, confusion, pain, passengers and chunks of aircraft everywhere. Smoke and burning bodies littering the runway, which was rippled and crushed.

_WHO AM I? _

_WHERE AM I!!?? _

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"Now arriving at gate 23, Northwest Airlines flight 69 from Detroit-Metro."

This is not right. I'm walking along, stumbling, almost falling, because THIS IS NOT MY BODY!!! I'm still trying to assimilate what has happened, while the lines of passengers herd me forward like sheep to the slaughter. "Other" memories overwhelm my consciousness and body awareness, ruining my ability to walk and chew gum at the same time.

And I'm all outta gum.

THUMP!

I've smacked into the customs and immigration desk. I look up to see two police officers that frown at me.

"Your passport please, sir," the first one asks. My right hand reaches inside my jacket to find...nothing. I then reach with my left to check the other side. Mr. Policeman is not looking happy. No passport in my right pocket, either.

"Sir, I am afraid you must come with us," he announces loudly while flagging down airport security. I'm starting to sweat. I remember all the stories about security in Japan, and their methods of interrogation

_I have no rights here, unlike in the United States. _

As the two grab my arms to lead me away, a voice forcefully cries:

"He's with us!"

I'm shaking now; can't even think straight. I hear a mixture of languages; Nihongo then an echo in English.

The officers turn me around so I may see my rescuers. The first thing I see is an I.D. card. It has a half fig leaf design on it with the letters NERV emblazoned on it in red. With fear all but consuming me, I look up to see two women.

Information overload.

I pass out.

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The sound of rotor blades stropping the air awakens me. Now this is something I do fear. I hate helicopters with an unbridled passion. Goddam things have the flight physics of a bumblebee. They shouldn't even fly. Moreover, there's no way out in case of a catastrophic transmission failure.

As I'm grousing about my flap-doodle transportation, I crack an eye open and listen to the conversation going on around me.

"...Well I can understand why he has a fear of flying, but why did he just drop like a sack of rice in front of us?" one female voice questions.

A second voice tiredly replies, "It could be any number of reasons, Misato, I've run all the checks that I can for now. We'll just have to wait till we get back to Headquarters."

At hearing the name "Misato," I pop upright like I'd been hit with a cattle prod. In front of me are Akagi Ritsuko and Katsuragi Misato.

In the flesh.

In one bright flash of reason and logic, I understand what has happened.

_My memories make sense now. I'm a forty-nine year old man in a fourteen-year-old body in an anime series that I watched on my computer! I'm screwed!!_

"I'm in Hell, aren't I?" I ask them, as my eyes roll up in my skull, and I face plant into the helo's deck.

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**IN LA-LA LAND:**

I'm on the flight to Japan. My vision is strange: not sharp; like a thin silk scarf has been tied over my eyes. The passengers around me start disappearing from their seats. Kind of misty, like a cloud, then just gone! Eventually it is just me in my seat. I hear a voice behind me softly say:

"Do you not want to live?"

I can't move. The voice is behind me, walking closer to my seat. I know this voice, and she scares the shit out of me.

_Don't be her._

_Don't be her._

_Don't look._

_WAKE__UP_

She comes into my line-of-sight, and it is who I most dread to see at this point, because I know now without a shadow of a doubt: I'm dead.

A thin slip of a girl, fourteen years old, of Japanese descent, but an albino with pale milk-white skin.

A skin-tight white suit with black trim; 00 stenciled above her breasts.

The goddess as death.

The avatar of man.

Blood red eyes.

Light electric blue hair.

The death of humanity.

Rei Ayanami.

"You are now deceased on your original plane of existence," she says in a flat, unemotional voice.

"All passengers of this aircraft were immolated in the fireball which ensued from a high speed impact with the water off the coast of Japan in the Devil's Triangle. Your aircraft flew through a large bubble of gas that was emitted from the ocean floor. This caused a catastrophic loss of lift and thrust, ensuing in the impact which extinguished all life aboard said aircraft."

She continues in that same robotic monotone with her cerulean eyes burning through the back of my skull:

"Your fellow passengers have chosen to live out their lives on other planes of existence. I have been tasked to lead you to your next incarnation. Do you wish to live?"

The voices in my head are screaming for release. Both in English and Japanese. I know what happens in Evangelion, my life is forfeit as a pilot. I see "his" memories of being the pilot of Unit Four.

_UNIT FOUR!??_

_HOW CAN THIS BE??_

_UNIT FOUR WAS DESTROYED IN THE SERIES BEFORE IT GOT TO JAPAN!!!_

The blue-haired Shiva tilts her head, looks at me, and quietly whispers,"All is not written in stone, or the Dead Sea Scrolls. Calm your mind. You will have a pivotal part in this existence; this war. But only a part. You have written about this world, have you not? Embrace this new existence, and help me eradicate the madness which is SEELE and Ikari Gendo."

I feel a great wave of calm wash over me, like the fog rolling in from Lake Superior in Marquette on a cool October morning. I want to do this. I want to help them all: Shinji, Asuka, Toji, Hikari, Kensuke, Misato, Ritsuko, and even Rei. However, I know it is a death wish. Also, there is nothing like the feeling you get when you fuck-up someone's scenario, look him in the eye and say: "Yes, I did it!"

_What the hell, I'm dead anyway._

_I just hope I remember everything in the story._

With a fatalistic sigh, I reply,"I accept your proposition, so now what happens?"

I feel something like imaginary fingers riffling through my memories; my thoughts. She turns towards me and smiles saying:

"You must not think of me like that. I am destined for another. I will help you when I can, but I can not make any direct physical interventions. You will be on your own, with a little help."

She now turns away from me for the first time since she started speaking to me. As she makes her way back down the isle past me, her voice deepens, and sounds like its coming from a deep grotto:

"You will awaken at NERV in the hospital. All your belongings will be there, and your memories, both yours and his, will be integrated into one whole. In time, your past life may fade, but you now have a new full life to live."

"Fare well Masahiro Kurokawa, we may meet again."

The aircraft cabin is starting to fade from my sight, as I begin to feel lighter. Like I'm becoming insubstantial.

"Wait, Rei!" I explode, with a sense of dread building in my guts. She turns to look at me and for the first time I feel the power encased in that slim form.

Her eyes change from cerulean to aureate fire as she gazes upon me.

"_**Not Rei**_ she states calmly,_**I am Lillith**_."

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**BACK IN THE REAL WORLD:**

I slowly wake up, smelling fresh sheets and disinfectant. A semi-hard bed supports my body. I roll onto my back, open my eyes, and see white ceiling tiles.

_WONDERFUL, my first day in Japan, and I'm in a hospital._

I look around the room, seeing the normal fitments for a hospital cubical for a person who has not been in a life-threatening experience.

"Damn, my head hurts," I grumble, looking towards the window. Then I get an echo of what I said in English.

_Oh great, thinking in stereo._

"Do you always talk to yourself?" asks a voice from the doorway.

Of course, it would be Misato. With her trademark skirt and red jacket on conspicuous display, she leans on the door jamb. Legs crossed and head cocked to the right, arms crossed under her breasts, she has a mischievous look on her face.

"Well, your clothes are in the closet over there, and it would be a good idea to get dressed. Don't want to keep the Commander waiting," she says with a playful tone in her voice.

_OH SHIT! NOT NOW! LET SLEEPING BASTARD DOGS LIE! I DO NOT NEED TO SEE __HIM__ YET!_

"Uh... do I have to go see him now?" I fearfully ask as I wrap the blanket around my upper body tighter, trying to ward off the instant chill from thinking about meeting the Commander.

"Yes, he has been asking about you since your little"incident" on the chopper. We aren't that gruesome looking to you, are we? That comment of being in hell didn't help your case at all," she says as she walks into the room and leans across the bed, staring into my eyes with a smirk on her beautiful face.

She is giving me a WONDERFUL view down her blouse, probably trying to get me to have a nosebleed, or pass-out.

_Think fast; think fast...ok, his memories from the Nevada earthquake three years ago. _

"No... I had a flashback of my accident. You two... Kind of reminded me of two of the victims from the earthquake and crash."

"Oh, I remember reading about that in your file." she quietly and regretfully remarks, unlocking eyes with me, and leaning back away from the bed. She looks a little wistful, like she didn't get the reaction she was looking for.

"I'll just be outside the door, so you can change."

She turns away from me, and wiggles her way to the doorway, pausing to look back and wink at me before she exits the room.

_DUH!!! She wanted to see me blush, nosebleed all over the place, or drop my jaw on the bed! Oh well, I'm not __**that**__ easy. _

When I crawl out of bed, I notice that I'm not as disoriented as I was earlier. Walking to the wardrobe, I begin to change into HIS clothes. As I finish dressing, I look down to see my A-3 bag, my LowePro Magnum AW bag, his suitcase and my Targus laptop bag stacked neatly in the corner.

With careful reverence, I open the Targus; lo and behold, my Compaq is here!

"Yeah, what's with the old laptop? Ritsuko said it was filled with gibberish." Misato asks as she pokes her head around the door jamb to check on me.

I sigh in relief, as I zip the bag closed, "Just something to practice on."

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**Commander's Office:**

_Be calm, this is real, he can have you killed with a word._

Ikari Gendo, Supreme Commander of NERV, is sitting behind his desk; hands folded in front of him. His glasses are reflecting the dim, red light of this cavernous room.

_At least he isn't using his stupid pose behind his hands._

"I trust there will be no more incidents like that upon your transportation to NERV?" Ikari grates out.

"No, sir." I reply, doing my best military parade-ground impression of an immobile object. But my traitorous knees are starting to shake.

"I have no time for pilots who become hysterical at the least provocation." he sneers at me. "The nature of your job dictates that you WILL be exposed to many unknown situations."

_Hysterical my ass!! Let's see you die and get thrown into a new dimension! I'd just __love__ to see how well you would do, you rat-bastard prick! Have your precious little Rei-Lillith tell you you're dead with no way back to your home! Probably whine like Shinji, when you found out you couldn't have Yui with you!_

_Now, if I can just get out of here without getting eliminated..._

"Unit-04 will be shipped here within two weeks; you have this time to prepare for your training. Do not make me regret acquiring the three of you sooner than I had wanted."

_The only thing you'll regret is pushing me too hard, when I put a Colt .45ACP to your head, dumnbfuck! Wait, THREE OF US? WHAT THREE? WHO? Quit playing with my mind, __Rokobungi_

_He is much more intimidating in real life. All I want to do is GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!_

Green eyes locking with blue ones, we fight for dominance. It is me who looks away first. With a slight smirk replacing the cold mask he rumbles:

"Your housing will be taken care of by Operations Director Katsuragi."

"You are dismissed."

_Thank you __GOD__ for small favors._

I do an about-face, and very shakily exit the wolf's lair.

_Next time think about him as being naked with Elton John glasses on his face, and Mickey Mouse ears on his head! Heh heh!_

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After hassling with the housing authorities that want to place me in Rei's apartment complex, Misato sets me up next door to her apartment.

"Why don't you drop off your stuff and meet your fellow Pilots?" she asks.

"I guess so," I tiredly mumble. I slide my keycard through the reader, and the door quietly retracts into the wall. I walk in to find a mirror image of Misato's apartment. I set down all four bags in the Genkan, turn, and leave my apartment. I then follow Misato next door.

All I wanted was to try to relax and unwind from my encounter with the Commander. But now I have to go play "meet the neighbors".

As Misato's door slides open, I hear the voices of two children in an argument.

And one of them has German-accented Japanese.

_Just what I need now, I have to deal with an irate Bavarian named Asuka. _

Remembering that only savages, barbarians, and the French wear their shoes inside the house, I slip mine off, and point them at the exit.

Misato introduces us, and I get a good look at my fellow inmates of this funny farm.

Shinji is just about what I remember from the series, but he has lines at the corners of his eyes. He has an air of dejection around him, and doesn't look like he has been getting enough sleep.

Asuka, on the other hand, is in her snotty prime. She really looks good, in her shorts and T-shirt. Too bad she's in for an unpleasant surprise later in her existence.

Asuka starts in on me about American biomechanical manufacturing, my sync ratio, and her fighting prowess. I'm tired, pissed, and don't want to hear this shit. I'm not about to listen to someone who never made an Angel kill completely on her own. Besides, you never argue with a teenager; a third party listening to both can't tell who is more immature. As I turn to leave I tell Misato thank you for the apartment, tell Shinji 'bye, and ignore Asuka. I just make it to the kitchen when I'm grabbed by my arm.

"Just a minute, Fourth! I'm not done with you yet!" Asuka hisses as she stops my headlong flight from the inevitable confrontation.

_YOU DO __**NOT**__ GRAB ME. I DON'T CARE __WHO__ YOU ARE. YOU DO __NOT__ LAY HANDS UPON ME!_

I remove my hand from her grasp, and stare her down.

"Now red-headed goddess, I am going home. I will not put up with your shit. I knew someone quite a bit like you and she came to a bad end."

_Run through with false lances, and eaten alive._

"Hit me, you get hit back. Insult me, you get the same," I growl in German.

"Oh, by the way, don't start cursing in German. I know that language, plus English and Russian." I say in Japanese, and then walk out, not listening to her screams of rage.

As I walk by Misato, she is opening her first Yebisu of the afternoon. She pointedly asks me: "How do you know German and Russian? Your file states you only know Japanese and English. Something is rotten in Denmark, and it's not just the cheese, Masahiro."

As I walk to the Genkan, I reply: "People learn and change throughout their lives, Misato. If you don't change, you may as well be dead."

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I trudge back to my apartment. I am so tired with all that has happened today, that I don't want to do anything but find the bed and crash.

I walk into the bedroom and find...a rolled up futon?

Oh well, I did want to get one on this trip. Just not the way that I'm getting this one. It cost me too much.

As I set up the futon, I'm thinking about Asuka. I just probably killed any chance of friendship with that little escapade. And Shinji had eyeballs the size of softballs when I back-talked Asuka.

_Oh, to hell with it, I need sleep._

During my dreams, Rei/Lillith appears in front of me.

"You must be careful what you do or say in this world so as to not create suspicion for yourself. You will need their co-operation, not their hostility. Sleep well Masahiro, I will guide help to you."

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**NEXT DAY:**

My alarm starts screaming for attention. I slap the noisy Big Ben clanger and roll out of my futon. I wrap myself in his yukata and make my way to the kitchen. The coffee maker has automatically brewed my morning Colombian sunshine. The rice cooker holds perfectly made rice, ready to be eaten. I heat up some Miso soup from the stockpot that was left in the fridge. At least Misato made sure that I had a minimum of kitchen utensils. And I must thank her for the groceries.

_Wait, Misato doesn't know how to grocery shop. All she buys is instant stuff. Moreover, she couldn't make Miso soup to save her life._

As I think about it, I hear voices from next door. With a smile on my face, I think:

_Thank you, Shinji. You are more thoughtful than the two slave drivers you are living with._

After finishing my breakfast, I change out of his yukata, and into his school uniform. Misato had already registered me with the school before I got here. And she told me yesterday, before we left NERV, that today would be my first day of school. With my lunch, all ready packed, and his backpack on, I leave before Shinji and "Der Redhead."

While the elevator makes its downward progression to street level, I start thinking about some new clothes.

_His taste isn't too bad, but I want some clothes of my own. These are almost like...no, I don't wanna go there. I need to find the shopping district soon. I miss my own clothes._

I start looking around me as I leave the apartment complex, searching for kids on the way to school.

_AH HAH! There's a pack of the little buggers! I'll just follow them!_

After about two klicks, I see Rei on the other side of the street. She stops, turns, and stares at me. I stare back, green eyes meeting red.

_Seems like I should be hearing the theme from "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly". Or maybe "The Twilight Zone"._

It feels like almost two minutes have passed; she then turns and resumes her course to school.

_Someone needs to put a big R or L on that girl's blouse so I can tell whom I'm dealing with. _

I follow Rei at a two-block distance.

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**AT SCHOOL:**

I can hear Hikari with her stand, bow, and sit routine from behind the classroom door. Sensei walks to the door, opens it, and tells me to enter and write my name on the blackboard. As I'm writing I hear murmurs of: big, cute, red hair, green eyes, date, girlfriend, what a stud.

Sensei then directs me to a seat in the back of the class by Kensuke. As I start down the isle, my eyes behold the most beautiful creature I have ever seen in my life. Gorgeous waist length jet-black hair, jade green eyes, porcelain skin...

I feel like I've been pole axed.

WHACK!!

An eraser bounces off my head.

PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEAT!!

I'm as red as a chili pepper and about as hot from embarrassment. As I look at her we both smile at each other, and I take my seat.

Kensuke introduces himself, and then rags on me for staring at Hitomi.

"Who?" I ask.

"Sato Hitomi," he says. A feeling like electric current runs up my spine then explodes in my head. When I recover, I whip my head around to stare at Rei.

She stares at me for a long moment, and then gives a minute nod of her head and a razor thin smile. Then she goes back to staring out the window.

_WHAT THE HELL!?? IS THIS REI? LILLITH? HOW CAN THIS BE LILLITH!?? SHE'S NAILED ON THAT CROSS IN TERMINAL DOGMA!! Maybe she talks to Rei?_

Kensuke looks at me, then Rei, then Hitomi, and whispers, "What's going on? First Hitomi, now Rei? Do you know them?"

My mind is still doing cartwheels, I can't even think straight enough to give Kensuke an answer.

Toji butts in with, "First case of love stupidness I've seen."

"Yeah, how about you and the Class Rep!" I growl out with venom in my voice.

_DUH! STUPID! Think before you talk! It's your first day here. How are you supposed to know about Hikari and Toji? Slips like that can get you killed!_

"NO... IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" he loudly stammers with a red face.

MISTER SUSAHARA! Roars Sensei.

I smirk at his misfortune, and start thinking of comebacks for his inevitable reply.

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I try to talk to Hitomi at lunch, but I keep getting sidetracked. The girls in class keep asking me about America, where I lived, and other personal questions. When I can finally break-away from the pack of giggling females, I see Asuka talking to Hitomi as they go into the girl's restroom. I have VERY BAD vibes over that.

Walking up the stairs to the roof of the school, I see the Three Stooges starting in on their lunches. Kensuke invites me over to eat with them. As I'm unpacking my lunch, I ask them what they know about Hitomi.

Shinji tells me that Hitomi is from Osaka-2, and both her parents work at NERV. Misato kidded him at the Parent-Teacher meeting because he looked at her for an extended period. She explained to him where they were working, and where their daughter was going to school.

Toji adds that she is on the swimming team. Once the guys saw her in her swimsuit, she had all kinds of offers for dates. However, when they found out she was also on the Kendo team, they kind of shied off. They were all afraid of the possibility of a woman being able to kick their asses. As he makes that last comment, he has a look on his face that says he would be happy if that happened to me.

Kensuke stated that her parents were in the upper fringes of NERV, so they were well off. They had their own home, instead of an apartment because of the combined salaries of both parents. He thought that they each made about as much as Captain Katsuragi, or maybe a bit more.

_AH HAH!!! __CAPTAIN__ Katsuragi!! That helps on the time-line!_

I could see from her tailor-made uniform, cut to fit her and crafted from finer materials, that her parents had yen to burn.

So, by the time I left school and was walking home, I had found:

1: A girl I liked.

2: She's athletic and smart.

3: Asuka has told her as many lies as she can about me.

4: Her parents are rich.

5: She's out of my league.

_DAMMIT! I've found someone who I could spend quality time with, and she's untouchable. I've never felt this way about ANYONE before! Why does this have to be so difficult?_

As I'm partaking of my negativity a low, almost non-existent voice whispers: _**"You will never know until you try. Think only of the positive, for you have much to do before this war is over. Find your happiness now, for it may never come again."**_

"Lillith?" I ask as I stop short and listen for more comments.

A sound like wind chimes and the voice is gone. I look around me, but see only the normal coming and going of a busy city, with no one I recognize.

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Trudging down the hallway to my room, I feel as though I'm wrapped in a shroud of pessimism and doom. How can I think of the positive? I'm in Neon Genesis Evangelion! I'm probably going to die here! I just got to school for the first time, and I've met someone who could be a good friend if I could talk to her. And Asuka has been feeding her lies. And I'm going to have to synchronize with a biomechanical monster that wants to eat my soul.

_Why must everything be so problematic!!?? _

_Why can't I just have a decent chance at happiness for once?_

_I'm FIFTEEN AGAIN!! _

_MY HORMONES ARE AT AN ALL TIME HIGH!_

_I'm in Japan with the most beautiful women in the world!_

_I'm fifteen again._

_The Angels are trying to kill humanity while I'm feeling like a horny goat._

_Unit 04 is a total unknown._

_I don't even know if I can synchronize with ANY of the Evangelions._

_If shit doesn't work out, everyone is dead._

_I'm afraid of Rei._

_Alternatively, maybe it's Lillith? _

_On the other hand, both?_

_This is NOT like the series that I watched on my computer._

_Have the changes that have happened been BECAUSE I have been injected into this reality??_

_All I want, are some friends that I can relate to, and maybe to be able to talk to Hitomi._

_Or maybe do this and that with Hitomi?_

_DAMN HORMONES!_

_It feels like I've met her before. _

_Never been HERE before._

_SHIT! THIS IS A PARALLEL UNIVERSE, HOW WOULD I HAVE MET HER BEFORE!!????_

_This is enough to give the Pope an intense headache!_

_I want my "Moon on the Water" sake. _

_I __NEED__ to get hammered!_

Masahiro Kurokawa died to give me another chance at life. I can still see the memories of his life. His dreams, fears, hopes and aspirations. All of that crushed and destroyed when I said yes. In addition, back at home, they have already buried "Roger." Or what was left of me. If they found anything at all.

I guillotine my key card through the reader, and the door disappears into the wall. Kicking off my shoes, I flip on the light as I walk into the living room. I go strait to the couch and flop down on my back, staring at the ceiling.

_I know no one here. My only two friends are gone in this world. And I killed HIM when I took this body. He even had a girlfriend in Nevada. How the hell do I deal with this?_

_I haven't been involved with or trusted the opposite sex in ten years. At least HE had someone before I obliterated him. And I can't even talk to anyone about this. Why the hell does my smegging life suck so bad?_

As I roll over on the couch, the tears begin to run down my cheeks.

A heavy feeling settles into my chest, my temples ache and my hands clench into fists.

I start to sob uncontrollably, my stomach feeling like it will clench up forever.

As my body is wracked by shudders I look to the ceiling with blurred vision and ask in a frightened, hurt voice:

_Why me, God? _

_What did I do wrong? _

_Why must I always be alone?_

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_A/N:_

Formatting and spelling/grammar revision. This story follows the EVA time line, but revolves around Masahiro and Hitomi. Expect larger roles for some of the other characters. I always felt that Hikari, Kensuke, and Toji never got enough development in the series. And I always thought that Fuyutsuki was pulling a W.W.II Imperial General's act: i.e. - "I was only following orders, so anything I did was condoned by higher authorities."

Using Google Earth, I have placed the _approximate_ positions of Misato's apartment, Rei's apartment, Hitomi's house, and Tokyo-3 Junior High School. You can find the maps and photos at a link on my profile page.

Next chapter: Masahiro's first time in a plug, his second meeting with Hitomi, and a couple of people from a different reality. It's up next in: CRB 4407 Chapter Two: Noah no Hakobune.

Please read and review.


	2. Chapter 2

**CRB 4407**

**By ****Jintsu**** Wednesday, November 15, 2006**

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**Disclaimer:**

All characters, names, and what ever else are property of Gainax, Movic, TV Tokyo, NAS, ADV Films, Wedge Link, OB Planning, Pastel, Studio Gallop, Frontline, Avex, TOKYOPOP, AIC, Artmic, Youmex, or whomever else I am forgetting to name. Just so they all know they are getting credit for the characters. As much as it agonizes me to say this, I did not create any of these characters except for Sato Hitomi and Kurokawa Masahiro. Much to my disappointment, I also did not create the initial plot for this series. That credit goes to Hideaki Anno alone.

So the hoard of slavering lawyers can go lie down for a century or two. This was written for fun, not for profit. I'm only borrowing the characters for a little while. I promise I'll give them back!

Go find someone else to help you pay for your BMW!

Kudos to Hamstadini for pre-reading and ripping on this story. You help me to write a better version than I could do on my own, dude.

Go read his stories after this! You won't be sorry!!

Can anyone guess what my subtitles are or about? Cookies for the thoughtful searchers.

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**CHAPTER TWO**

**Noah no Hakobune**

_Cruising under your radar, _

_Watching from a satellite,_

_Take a page from the Red Book, _

_And keep them in your sights,_

_Red Alert, Red Alert._

_Rush: _

_Distant Early Warning_

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

I open my eyes and stretch my cramped limbs. No fun sleeping on this couch. I glance at my left wrist, no watch. Look at my right and my Seiko Chronograph is there.

_DAMMIT!! HE'S LEFT HANDED!!!_

I notice that I've been out for about four hours. The sleep has helped my body, but my soul still feels the sadness, heartache, and loneliness.

_I've got to concentrate on the positive things of my situation, or I'll only be fit for the loony bin._

I think of the good things that have happened as of late:

1: I'm alive.

2: I have a purpose here.

3: I met Hitomi.

4: I'm fifteen again!

5: I know how this story is supposed to...

I whip my head around to stare at the Genkan. In a frenzy of haste, I run to my bags and grab my laptop. Retreating to the couch, I boot the beast, type in my BIOS password and hit enter. Ninety-five seconds later XP comes up with Iron Helix on my desktop.

I check the last files I had accessed while I was in Ohio. Everything is here; my maps, sight-seeing tours to go on, GPS coordinates, photos of places I want to visit. I also check my address book and notice that there have been no changes.

_Well, I doubt I'll be able to visit Ron in Tokyo, since it went up with an N-2 bomb, and then was flooded by Second Impact in this world. And Ken and Ginger won't know __me__here_, _anyway. They know the Roger they buried fourteen years ago, not a freckled Japanese Black-Irish kid whom they don't know from Adam. _

Some of my programs refuse to work. I'm guessing that the internet connections they used are no longer in existence, the program never got made here, or they are so out of date that they aren't used anymore.

_It would have been nice to have Google Earth here. But I can do without the unessential programs._

Everything is fine, so far. Now for partition E.

Heh heh.

Partition E; Evangelion, heh, heh.

It's all there. Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Complete, Evangelion: Death and Rebirth, End of Evangelion, all on the hard drive. Time to do some DVD burning and some serious note taking. And painstakingly picky watching of the series. I've got to figure out where I'm at in relation to the plot line. I may have already screwed up with Asuka. Oh, well. No wick for the rested.

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**THE NEXT DAY:**

As I sullenly stumble my way to school, I see children doing the same as me. They remind me of salmon returning downstream to the sea. I don't join them directly, because after pulling an all-niter with Evangelion on the laptop, I'm hardly good company. Looking in the mirror before I left for school this morning, I gazed at the still unfamiliar-me. Reddish-blonde hair uncombed, green eyes bloodshot and bags under said eyes from lack of sleep, I looked ready for the mortuary.

With my head down, half-way tripping over pieces of uneven sidewalk, I rage over the differences between the series on my laptop and this here-and-now. Without even realizing it I have passed from subconscious ranting to raving out loud.

"Goddam Anno and his cryptic dating. And lack of it, too. I don't know where the hell I am in the series, except that Unit-04 hasn't sucked up a portion of Nevada. Stupid shit. What am I supposed to do now?"

CLANG!

OW! OW! OW!

"You are supposed to walk to school without running into light poles. Do you always talk to yourself, Kurokawa?"

I look up into cerise eyes which are framed by a mop of cerulean hair. The scalp on the back of my neck tightens, and my hair stands up like I've been given an electric shock. Before I even realize it, I have crab-scuttled backwards a metre from her.

She cocks her head to the left and stares inquiringly at me. Rei then turns around and resumes her journey. At least I think it was Rei.

I sit on the ground, still hyper ventilating. I used to like Rei. I really did. But after all this shit, I don't know who I'm going to talk to: Rei? Lillith? Both?

_Note to self: this is NOT the Rei you know and love!_

My fists clenched, arms thrust upward, I throw my head back and scream at the sky:

"ANNO, YOU BASTARD!!"

As the red clears from my vision, I notice that Rei is walking the wrong way to school.

_Wait...that goes to the geofront. Why is she going to headquarters?_

"Hey, Fourth! You going to sit there all day like a toadstool?" the voice of the Red Devil taunts me. "Or maybe you're afraid of sync tests?"

_OH SHIT!! FORGOT ABOUT THAT!_

As I get up and run past Shinji and Asuka, I playfully yell, "Hey Sohryu, don't go away mad, just go away!"

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TEST PLUGS:

Everything is fine, except this thing is like a coffin. It always seemed so roomy in the series, but real life rears its ugly head again. And it's too dark. I'm not a claustrophobe, but you might be able to catch it from one of these cock-suckers if you were in here too long.

"**Filling plugs with LCL."**

_It does smell like blood._

_And I have to breathe this shit?_

As the viscous fluid rises above my head, I search his memories. It seems you fully exhale, and then slowly inhale to keep the gag reflex from kicking in.

It's scary, this feeling of almost drowning. Then the feeling of NOT having to breathe.

"**Charging LCL."**

_And the smells..._

"**Approaching Absolute Borderline."**

_...this smells like..._

As the plug flashes through its Moiré pattern, then clears to transparent, I remember the smell.

_IT'S JUST LIKE..._

My stomach starts to convulse.

A thirty year-old memory clubs my brain with a large, figurative two-by-four: blood, sweat, hydraulic fluid, insulation, arcing current, JP-4...

_I'M GONNA BE SICK..._

Flight status, B-52-H models, flying facing backwards, always dark, too hot or too cold...

"**Fourth child's readings are spiking!!"**

_231 flight hours, and sick for 200 of them..._

"_**EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN! FORCE-DRAIN THE PLUG! RESCUE TEAM TO PLUG 04!"**_

I can feel it, just like before. The horrible dizziness, sinuses feeling full, eyeballs bulging. The last is the worst: my nostrils flare as my stomach angrily clenches; then inverts. Bile and my erstwhile breakfast rockets out of my throat into the LCL. It curls around my face as I try to suck in non-existent air.

"**PILOT HAS ASPIRATED CONTAMINATED LCL!! OPEN THAT PLUG, DAMN IT! HE'LL DIE IN THERE!!"**

_My throat and lungs are on fire!_

_I CAN'T BREATHE! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!_

My panic is all-consuming. As the rescue team drags me from the plug, I'm still convulsing, arms whipping from side-to-side, head thrown back towards the ceiling, trying with wheezing gasps to breathe with acid-drenched lungs. I feel a wickedly sharp spike of pain in my back, like what an auto-injector for atropine from the military would feel like, and then everything fades to black.

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**MASAHIRO KUROKAWA'S MIND:**

_**NIGHTMARE IN OLIVE DRAB**_

_Six times a year I have this damn recurring dream._

_I'm sitting in this fucking uncomfortable ejection seat again._

_Why can't I leave this horrid nightmare behind me? It's not like I'm flying in the military anymore._

Pitch dark, with no windows. Dim, subdued red lighting. The oxygen regulator pumping rubbery-tasting 100 oxygen into my mask.

Pitching, rolling, we must be at low-level. The helmet on my head whipping back and forth, trying to snap my neck from the G-forces. The radar scope shows clutter almost all the way out.

The wonderful smell of sweat, piss, shit, hydraulics, overheated electronics, JP-4, ancient insulation, sixteen year-old aircraft, and vomit.

"**Sixty seconds to IP."**

The yawing is getting worse. I reach over and punch my clock on the instrument panel.

"Gunner's alternate timing set."

I check my switches, and notice that the safety wire is broken on the fire switch for my cannon. There is also a streamer on the Nuclear-Alternate-Release handle.

_THIS BIRD IS NUKE-LOADED!_

_THIS ISN'T MY NORMAL NIGHTMARE FROM MY MEMORIES!!_

_WHAT THE __FUCK__ IS GOING ON!!_

_THE BIRD WAS __NEVER__ NUKE-LOADED IN MY DREAM!!!_

My stomach knots in fear.

WHOOM!!

"**Catastrophic failure on number eight! Fire on eight!"**

The bird rolls to starboard in a drunken stagger.

"**Fuel flow: Off on eight!"**

"**Off on eight!"**

The interior lights flicker as the generator on Number six engine kicks-in, due to the failure of engine eight.

"**Throttle on eight: Off! Guard the throttles!"**

"**Eight: Off, Throttles, Guarded!"**

"**Fire bottle on eight: Pull!"**

"**Eight: Pulled!"**

Two targets start running down the scope, like tiger sharks smelling blood in the water.

_THERE WERE __NO__ TARGETS IN MY DREAM BEFORE!!!_

"**Throttle-up on one and two to compensate for loss of thrust!"**

_It must be the fire. We must be lighting up the sky like a nova in infra-red._

_WHY ARE THERE TARGETS? WHAT THE __HELL__ IS GOING ON??!!!!_

"**Throttle-up one and two!"**

The bird screams as 102 thrust is rammed out of the tail pipes of one and two.

"**FIRE ON SEVEN!! THE WHOLE FUCKING **_**PYLON**_** IS ON FIRE!"**

_I'm waiting for it. The command to bail-out has always been at this point before. With this shit, I'm staying with the aircraft. I can't bail-out now! _

_NOT THIS TIME!_

"**CREW, PREPARE TO BAIL-OUT!"**

"**COPILOT"**

"**EW" **

"GUNNER," I grit out.

"**NAV"**

"**RADAR"**

"**SET IFF"**

"**SET"**

As the aircraft heels over to 85 degrees starboard, I concentrate on the bail-out light, three feet in front of me.

Then it happens.

WHUMP!

An instant cloud forms in the cockpit, then is swept away by wind blast. Deafening noise, then a searing blast from beside me on my left. My Electronic Warfare Officer has ejected.

_THIS IS NOT LIKE THE DREAM!! WE ALL EJECTED TOGETHER IN SEQUENCE!!!_

I slam my ass into the back of the seat, straiten my spine, and wrench my head back into the head rest. Icy fear spiking through my veins, I grab the ejection handles with hysterical strength.

_ROTATE AND SQUEEZE, ROTATE AND SQUEEZE!_

The handles come up and time slows. I can watch the hatch slowly unlock, then the wind blast from the slipstream catches it. It slowly tumbles away, and then time speeds up again. I crush the triggers to my palms, gritting my teeth as every muscle tenses in readiness for the eight-positive G upward explosion.

The seat never moves.

Realization hits.

_IT'S A DEAD SEAT! GET OUT! GET OUT!_

I hit the man-seat separator, heave myself out of the worthless, god-forsaken bucket and waddle forward, chute on my back and survival kit between my legs slowing me down.

I glance out the cockpit windows, and to my horror, the bird is less than five hundred feet from impact in the Russian Urals!

_FUCK NO!!! THIS IS A EWO MISSION!! I DON'T WANNA DIE!!!_

_NNNAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHH!!!_

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I shoot straight up in bed, lungs heaving from the fear and adrenalin coursing through my veins. The door to my room slams open, doctors and nurses rushing in to see me sitting up in bed, white as new dry wall. The monitors in the room screaming their alerts about my condition.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING SITTING UP IN THAT BED!!" the youngest doctor in the room screams at me.

"We just finished cleaning out your lungs, and you need to be horizontal to heal correctly!"

I look at his security badge as he pushes me back into the bed. It says he is "R. Takahashi" with NERV medical. A bell goes off in my head, but at this time, I'm too tired to follow up on the thought.

As the bed sucks me down into unconsciousness, my last thoughts are of that horrid smell that triggered this whole mess.

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**SIX HOURS LATER:**

I climb back to consciousness feeling like death warmed over. Same smells, same sounds: I guess I'm still in the hospital. I crack open my eyes to see the eggshell-white ceiling tiles.

_I"M NOT GONNA SAY IT!! I always HATED that line he said in this situation._

I hear paper being flipped in the background, so I send my awareness to that portion of the room. At the foot of my bed, Ritsuko is scanning through my patient chart. Unaware of anything else except for the information contained therein, her concentration is total. I try to say hello to her, but all that I produce is a harsh croak.

"Ah...awake, I see. Let me get you some water."

She walks to the left side of the bed and pours a glass for me from the plastic carafe sitting on the bed side table. Handing me the water, which I gratefully gulp down, she then stares at the clip board again.

Pushing her glasses back up on her nose, she frowns at me and starts her diagnosis of my condition.

"You know, Masahiro, we almost lost you. You had aspirated vomit while immersed in the LCL. That was the burning you felt before you passed out. If you had been anywhere else but here in the cages, you WOULD have died. The quick response of the rescue team and Maya tranquilizing you with the plugsuit medical pack saved your life."

_PLUGSUIT MEDICAL PACK??... Damn, drugs and injectors in that thing between my shoulder blades. And I positively HATE needles!... Aspirated vomit?? Oh shit, just like John Bonham of Led Zeppelin; died in his own spew._

"We were able to irrigate your lungs with LCL, and oxygenate your blood directly with a heart-lung machine. If this happened in combat, you would be dead. What happened in the plug to give you this reaction?"

_Oh yeah, I'm going to tell you all about being a gunner in B-52s in another time-line...NOT!!!_

_WAITAMINIT... the crash three years ago __he__ was in, the smells would be the same. Use that._

"The smells from the plug and LCL gave me a flash back to the airliner crash I was in three years ago. There were bodies everywhere, everything was burning and the smells of jet fuel, hydraulic fluid, and ozone were overwhelming to me. Add the trauma of impact with the tarmac at landing speed, and you have a recipe for nightmares for the rest of your life."

Ritsuko nods her head, as if she had already come to that conclusion. After all, she has all of my medical files on hand.

She then states the obvious: "You know, of course, it's all in your head?... But the sense of smell can be a powerful trigger. I'm going to check if we can medicate you to alleviate some of the symptoms of your problem. But I will warn you: EVERY TIME you get into that plug, you're going to have the same reaction. Maybe not as bad as this time, but it will still be an annoyance. I'm hoping that you will still be able to pilot. If this gets any worse, you will be a liability in combat and we cannot afford that.

I'm also wondering about what you were saying when we brought you out of surgery. You mentioned other people and places that are unknown to us, or in your files. The anesthetic we use sometimes has a secondary effect of being a truth serum."

I look at her with fear showing in my eyes. She looks back with triumph in hers.

"So where is the 644th Bomb squadron? Who is "Roger"? What is a "switch-blade Edsel"?"

My face is frozen. My mind is gibbering in fear from what she may have found out.

Suddenly, my scalp starts to crawl, goose bumps raise on my forearms.

"_**Doctor Akagi, are you interrogating Kurokawa using truth drugs?"**_ a monotone voice asks from the shadows by a curtained window.

"REI!...I was.. just trying to find out what he was saying when we brought him out of surgery," states a surprised Ritsuko.

_She's not the only one surprised, I thought we two were the only ones in here!_

The doctor backs up to the door way, aghast at the sudden appearance of, and menace emanating from the blue-haired teenager.

"_**Where are you going, Doctor?"**_

"I must give the Commander my report on Kurokawa's condition."

"_**And your suspicions of what Kurokawa said?"**_

"Of course." she smirks, gaining back some of her superiority and backbone.

I'm looking back and forth between the two, still not understanding what is going on. But realizing that this is going to get MUCH worse.

"_**I think not,"**_ the blue-haired teenager says as her eyes begin to glow with a golden fire.

"_**You will tell the Commander nothing of what transpired here, nor your suspicions of what was said. You will forget everything Kurokawa said since he was removed from the test plug. Do you understand all I have told you?"**_

"Yesss..."

"_**This personage has not been here. You have not seen this shell since the failed test today. You may leave now. Present the Commander your medical opinions of Kurokawa."**_

I notice that Ritsuko has left, but I have been watching Rei since her eyes started to glow. She turns to face me, and the glow subsides to show red eyes.

"_**I can only help so much, Kurokawa. You must take care around the doctor. She suspects you are not who you claim to be. The Captain also suspects that you are different from what is in your files. Use the wits that have served you for over four decades."**_

With that being said, she walks over to my bed. My anxiety increases as she gently brushes my right cheek with her hand. My fears subside, and I suddenly feel calm, complete,...I can't describe it all. I finally link it all together: the eyes, the crawling skin and goose bumps, and the calming effect. This is Lillith before me.

"_**You are correct. My daughter does not have this ability yet. She has not been truly awakened. Those are some of the ways to tell us apart. I must go, now. I can only manifest myself for so long before I trigger alarms. And it is tiring for me in this form. Farewell."**_

Lillith then fades to nothing, not a trace of her is left except for the feeling of calm and well-being within me. Lying back on the bed, I have a lot to think about.

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**A DAY LATER:**

I have been released from the hospital, but must stay at Misato's for observation, and my own safety. Unfortunately, there is no safe place while Asuka is at home.

"Didn't anyone tell you not to toss your cookies in the LCL, you baka?" Asuka starts in on me. "I swear, some people are so...

"Asuka," I interrupt, "have you ever been deathly airsick? Have you ever smelled dead bodies? Or seen crushed and mutilated bodies? I had the dubious distinction of that pleasure three years ago. The airliner I was on landed in Las Vegas in the middle of an earthquake."

Asuka starts to respond, but then she stops. A frown creases her features, as she thinks about what I said.

Shinji sits back on the couch, silent, not wanting to get embroiled in this argument.

"There are certain things hardwired into the brain, one of them being the sense of smell. It's buried back in the reptilian portion of our brains. You can smell something, and it can bring back a memory from say, ten years ago. The memory can be so strong, that you remember EVERYTHING that happened. Have you ever had that happen to you?"

Asuka, for once, is quiet; thinking about her past. Then she blanches, her eyes going wide.

"I see you found a memory that was tied to some smell, and it wasn't pleasant, was it? That's how I felt in that god damn plug. And I couldn't stop the memories because the smell was everywhere. It didn't stop until I was out of the plug and Lt. Ibuki hit me with that trank shot that's in the backpack of our plug suits."

Both Children have unbelieving stares on their faces.

"Don't tell me that you both didn't know that they can remotely administer our health while we wear a plug suit?" I ask in disbelief.

They look like a pair of deer in the middle of the road while you are rocketing towards them at 120 klicks an hour.

"What do you think that smegging thing is in between our shoulder blades, some kind of decoration?" I look at Shinji and growl, "Or maybe it's a backpack for SDAT tapes."

I sigh wearily, as I look at the two teens, and very condescendingly state:"Go on the Intranet of NERV, and look up your plug suits. With your security clearances, it will tell you more than you NEVER wanted to know."

I see fear and outrage on their faces. I guess no one told them about what they were wearing, or where to find the information. I figured Asuka should know, but the information was buried in the medical specs of the suits.

"Oh, so now you're an expert on plug suits, Fourth!" Asuka shouts at me, trying to hide her ignorance and fear.

"What's next? Eva has its own soul? Or maybe it can help me synch? Give me a break!"

In a muted whisper I mutter:"If you only knew."

Out loud I bark:"Narf!"

I lever myself off the couch and trudge back to my apartment to crawl into my futon. To hell with Asuka, to hell with observation! All my body wants now is sleep, and it has been denied it for far too long.

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I know I'm dreaming, because I can't fly, unless of course my name is Neo. Then maybe this would all make sense. But I'm not in the Matrix.

From studying maps for my vacation, I see that I'm somewhere close to Kofu.

I land in front of a warehouse that is south of a river. The sign over the sliding doors states that this is "Yomatoku Trading Company". I go in thru the man-door, and see a normal warehouse set-up for export sales.

All around me are bales of clothing. Shelves full of domestic goods, and large 2.44 by 5.8 metre tubes stacked next to the far wall.

I walk over to one of the tubes and read the warning label on it. It states that the contents are flammable, corrosive; must purge gaseous nitrogen before opening long-term storage container.

I can dimly see an outline of a red third-generation Camaro. But what is directly in front of the viewing port is the plate for the car. Its Japanese registered, with the number 13-137 from Gunma Province. On the hatch window is a _very_ well-remembered sticker: Up from down under, F-111C.

I know this plate, I've seen it somewhere before. And there was only one vehicle I knew of with that sticker on the hatch, in that _exact_ position.

Before I can think or do anything else, I wake up.

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**NEXT MORNING:**

I remember my dream and the particulars of that moment. I have had déjà-vu before, so I hold onto the last threads of the experience. I crawl out of my futon and reach for my computer. I pull up Google JP and search for my VIN number. I also Google the name: R. Takahashi from the hospital. The VIN Number comes up as registered to Ryosuke Takahashi. It takes me a minute, and then I remember "Initial D".

_It can't be the same person!!??_

Secondary search comes up as Ryosuke Takahashi. Doctor with NERV. Ran team of drivers throughout Japan for illegal road-racing while in college. Continuous wins till he retired the team and went into medical practice.

_IT'S THE SAME MAN!!_

_I HAVE GOT TO MEET HIM!!_

I get my sluggard ass out of bed, wolf down some rice, and run to NERV Headquarters. To HELL with school at this point! This is Iron Helix and Ryosuke Takahashi that I'm dealing with!

I get to Headquarters and stop dead. How do I find him? As I'm trying to think of a way to ferret him out from this rat maze, Ritsuko walks past me. I ask her where I might find Doctor Takahashi. She tells me that he is two doors down to the right in this corridor. As she walks away, I walk up to the door she mentioned and knock on it.

At this point, I'm starting to sweat, I'm not really sure that this is really happening.

_Now I have to deal with TWO anime series? How screwed-up __is__ this dimension?_

I hear a muffled "Come in" and the door retracts into the wall.

As I walk into the room, I can see a person in three-quarters view. He looks like Ryosuke, but older. The same cynical look on his face from when he was racing in the anime series. Long thin face with an aquiline nose, pale grey eyes framed by somewhat longer hair than in the series. Thin lips which are slightly frowning at me.

"Doctor Takahashi, thank you for saving my life. But I would like to ask you a question."

He motions for me to go on.

I ask him what vehicle has his old plate from his Savannah.

"How is it you know that?" Ryosuke asks, his eyebrows climbing up his forehead.

"I saw it in a dream. And it was in a tube in Kofu. The warehouse name was Yomatoku Trading Company.", I confidently say.

"It is an experimental car which I bought when the owner died in a plane crash in May of 2000." he explains, locking eyes with me.

I turn white as paper. My doppelganger died fourteen years ago. While I took my flight in 2007.

"Why are you interested in a twenty-seven year old car?" he interrogates, his watery-grey eyes boring into my skull.

"I had one while I was in the United States. Would you consider selling that car to me?"

He looks at me as if he is weighing the pluses and minuses of a fourteen-year old driving this car. And if the person before him is capable of dealing with a highly-modified, border line race car.

I pull out my laptop, boot the beast and Iron Helix appears on the desktop. He is shocked.

"Where did you get that photograph?" he asks.

"I have always had it," I explain. "This is my vehicle, which is named"Iron Helix"", I state with a smirk.

"The car I have in storage has a faded decal which states "Iron Helix" across the top of the windshield," he grudgingly tells me.

I watch as he grimaces, his gaze going right through me; obviously he is deep in thought. I can almost hear the gears turning in his skull; such is his concentration.

_Oh shit!! I woke the analytical portion of his mind! THIS IS NOT GOOD!!!_

"What time is it?

10:00, right!

Kurokawa, come with me. You are done for the day. I do not care what Doctor Akagi says, we need to talk elsewhere. The walls have ears, and you must show me some of your other files."

As we leave, I start to worry.

_This man has __never__ been surprised by anything! He always planned everything out; positive or negative, he __always__ had an answer._

We finally make it to the parking deck for NERV employees. Ryosuke walks up to a white 7-class BMW and over his shoulder says:

"Get in."

From the transport train, to the surface, I see nothing but my foot shoved in my mouth all the way up to my ass.

As we leave the loading dock and head into the outskirts of Tokyo-3, a storm can be seen forming on the western horizon.

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"Is this is the car you were talking about?" he asks me.

It is now 12:30 in the afternoon in a warehouse of a rain-soaked Kofu. As the crow flies, it is about thirty-five miles away. But driving there takes ninety-three miles of mountainous terrain.

Ryosuke and I are waiting for the 1.2-bar gaseous nitrogen purge to finish so he can open the storage container.

"I'm almost sure it is. Did you change the wheels?" I question as I squint through the thick quartz glass of the container window.

"No, 40.64 centimeter is just about perfect for this suspension set-up." he tells me. "But the tires must be imported from America, since they are stock American sizes. Nothing here will fit these rims."

The final interlocks release, and the back portion of the tube drops down to the floor. As I look inside, I see the plate sitting on the inside trunk deck. It's my old Ohio plate!

"This is it. That's my old plate on the trunk deck. Look on the passenger seat." I state as I look over to him.

On the seat is an IBM ThinkPad 380XD in its travel bag.

"Don't tell me," I whisper,"when it boots and comes up to the sign-in screen, it's called"Dutch Mouse.""

"It did show that when I first booted it. Is this another of your computers?" Ryosuke inquires with a disbelieving look on his face.

"I always left that computer with the car; it has my tuning program on it. Do you have a router?"

"Over here, in the office." he remarks as we leave the container. He then points to the area past the household goods.

Entering the small and narrow tube, I remove my laptop from the passenger seat.

_Good thing the windows were down, I wouldn't be able to open the door in this sarcophagus._

Leaving the tube, clutching the IBM to my chest, I can't get over how accurate my dream was. This is exactly like what I saw.

We walk into the office and I immediately see the computers and the router. I go to the closest desk and start organizing the hardware. Unscrewing the back cover for the BIOS battery in the IBM, I remove the dead battery and replace it with a spare from my Targus bag. Plugging the ThinkPad into the wall socket, I then boot it. I hard-wire my Compaq to the router, then the IBM.

I boot my Compaq, and wait for both machines to fully log-on.

I type in my password on the IBM and it opens to the desktop. I go to network places, and the Compaq is shown.

I pull up network neighborhood on the Compaq, and there is Dutch Mouse.

"As you can see," I smugly grin,"I have full permissions on this network to do anything with these computers. The only way this is possible is if I had set this up myself and I was the administrator for both computers."

_Ryosuke is no idiot, especially when it comes to computers. This should convince him that what I'm saying is truth._

"This is very interesting, but what makes you think I will just give you this vehicle which I had originally purchased for my brother to race? You ARE fourteen years old, and all this could be faked. This car would be a handful even for Keisuke to drive. What makes you think that you may drive as well as he does?"

"Do you want me to tell you the VIN number, or the bar code number for the computer?" I ask.

"HOW CAN YOU KNOW THIS!!?"

"THE OWNER DIED FOURTEEN YEARS AGO!!"

"NO ONE HAS SEEN THIS CAR BUT MY TEAM AND MY BROTHER!!"

"WHO ARE YOU!??!!???"

"I am Roger Beckner, also known as the Fourth Child, Masahiro Kurokawa, and I would like to buy MY CAR back from you."

"You can't be the owner, he's dead!!"

"How did I know what the owner's name was? You never told me that fact. The only record of the last owner would be on the Ohio title. That title would have been destroyed when you registered the car in Japan. So there is no trail to follow in finding my name.

I can tell you everything about that car, from where it was assembled, to the last owner before me.

If that doesn't convince you, pull the bastard out of the tube, and I'll drive him for you."

"WHO ARE YOU!!?"

"If I explain, will you promise to keep this conversation confidential?"

"This is insane, but I have to know. Yes, I will keep our conversation between us only."

I then describe what happened to me from the flight out of Canton-Akron, until now.

He sets down in a chair, with an air of disbelief. His face is an open book to me. I open a folder named "CRB4407.vxd".

_Wonderful things .vxd files are. You can hide anything in them. And they look like a regular Windows file, until you open it. _

Inside this folder are all my photos of the restoration, all the receipts from E-Bay for the parts I installed. Photos of myself beside the car in casual dress, and in my kimono.

Ryosuke looks at these, and then stares at me and asks, "How is this possible? I am a man of science, and this is beyond the bounds of reason!"

"All I know is what I can tell you. I know more than a fourteen year old should know. I lived in another time, before you grew up. I can tell you about every nut and bolt on that car. If you look in the glove box you will find my certificates from the driving school at Mid-Ohio Race course. My old SCCA license should be there, too.

I can also tell you about your racing here in Japan. Your mother and father; what modifications you made to your car to try and beat Takumi in your race with him. You never told anyone else except for Keisuke, that you detuned your car, did you?"

After all this, Ryosuke turns to me and says, "If I had not seen and heard all this, I would think you are delusional. For me to believe this I should be delusional. But I cannot argue with what you have told and shown me."

"Can you help me? The beast hasn't been run in... how long? And I need mods to run in the corners; drifting and such. And I need someone to teach me to drive aggressively on these roads. I've been used to the United States, and it's much easier to drive there."

"I'll see what I can do about training, I know someone who might be able to help you. He's the best driver I have ever raced against. But he is on the pro tour right now. If, after driving with you, he agrees that you have potential to drive this car, I will sell it to you."

"Takumi?"

"How did you know?"

"Let me show you an anime show called "Initial D."", I hesitantly tell him.

I have no idea how Ryosuke will react to seeing himself on the computer. This is a make or break situation. I can only hope he believes me.

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**LATER: 4:30 PM**

"That was very disconcerting. I know we had no cameras recording the races from those angles. And I have no idea how this could have been documented.

Logically, using Ockham's Razor, I have no other recourse."

_He looks like he bit into a lime; his face is screwed-up into an uncomfortable grimace._

"So we are all anime characters in your world?"

"Correct."

"But you set up your car like my team in your anime?"

"Yes, because in my world," I angrily comment,"there are not many people who have the ability to DRIVE. They may look good, sound good, but they can't drive. They can't feel the car, hear what it's doing, or make quick decisions on conditions in front of them as they happen. They can't believe that a 1725 kg. car can pass them on the outside of a curve that they are really carving up in a smaller car."

"You drift that monster?" he asks, looking me in the eye, daring me to refute him.

"When I get the right corner. There isn't enough power to do it on every corner." I bitch, remembering Chevrolet's idea of a V-8 for Z/28s in 1987.

"I have an answer for that." he confidently states, with a smirk on his face.

"So do I. Look at this file that's under mods." I reply with my own smirk.

I open a file named: CRB4407mods.vxd.

Chevrolet 5.7 litre TPI engine, Banks Twin-turbo modification, nose canards with ring-gyros, diffuser plate for theundercarriage, rear spoiler modification, Recaro buckets, and shaved door handles with remote. Fourth-Generation Pontiac Trans-AM ram air hood. Car will need rear-end replaced with Ford 9-inch. Also replace transmission with ZF 6-speed box from Corvette. Heavy-duty steel drive shaft with twin safety loops. Spohn Performance suspension package. Eibach lowering kit for front and rear. 1-LE disc-brake modification for front and rear brakes. Windows tinted 75 dark.

"That is almost what I had thought this car would need," Ryosuke replies, looking at the specs and photos of the information in the file. "But, of course, since this is an American car, and you had access to American technology, I understand why you went with what you found.

I would have gone with Domestic products, like from an R-34. I have a garage which can do the modifications which you will need to realize the full potential of this vehicle." he tells me with a self-confident smile.

"Who is it?" curiosity getting the better of me. "The same guys that ran the hopped-up Honda with the pro driver?"

"No. It's called "Raven's Garage." He has done some work for me in the past. And if you liked my Savannah in the series that you showed me, you will not be disappointed by his work."

"Does this man wear a coverall with "Nobel Prize for Physics" on the back? Kind of looks like Einstein?" I ask, knowing the answer.

"Yes. Is he another anime character in your world?" he asks me with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's just say that if you want to invest, follow the trail of a Sylia Stingray around about 2032. And stay away from the conglomerate called GENOM." I grit out, not wanting to think about what will happen in the future.

"GENOM is making half of the components for NERV." Ryosuke tells me.

_DAMMIT!!! THIS MAKES __THREE__ ANIME SERIES IN THIS DIMENSION!! WHAT'S NEXT? RANMA!!??_

"No wonder they became so big." I growl."If I had the time I'd hunt Quincy down, and make sure the shit didn't happen. And snuff Maison, too. I need to show you another series, at another time."

"From what you have shown me, I will believe anything, now."

With my horrible French accent from Monty Python I remark:

"You aint seen nothin'.. yet!"

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**NEXT DAY:**

Next day at school. I check the laptop they gave me.

_This thing has more memory and processor than my Compaq! And they GIVE you this thing for just being in class._

_I love it here!_

_Tine to upload Unreal Tournament. Maybe I can get Kensuke to play a match against me. Maybe I can get all of us to play on the net. _

This thought keeps me going 'till lunch.

Now I start looking for Hitomi. I find her outside by a large sakura tree having lunch with Asuka and Hikari. I walk over with shaking knees and a heart that's about to explode.

"Hitomi, might I speak with you privately?" I nervously ask, hands gripped behind my back, my fingers writhing like octopus tentacles.

"Oh sure," Asuka shouts going ballistic, "you just want to take Hitomi into the bushes to fulfill your hentai fantasies, don't you, Forth!"

Hikari looks neutral; must have been polluted by Asuka. At least she isn't siding with Asuka.

Hitomi looks slightly pink, as I feel myself lightly blushing from Asuka's declaration.

_God, she's cute like that! And she's my height; I can look right into those beautiful green eyes._

Hitomi asks me,"Would after school on the way home be fine with you? I mean...if it's THAT personal to you, I can understand your reticence." She then pointedly looks at both of her companions.

She is smiling, with a twinkle in her eyes. Her whole posture is open and friendly towards me.

_DAMN!! I'M FROZEN AGAIN!! She just smiles and it locks up my brain! DUH...GET A GRIP!!_

Finally coming out of my blissful paralysis, I notice that THREE sets of eyes are expectantly watching me.

Blushing furiously, I shyly smile and tell her:

"Thank you, Hitomi. I guess I'll see you after school at the front gate."

As I turn to leave them, I walk past Asuka; I just can't resist it. In a snide, childish voice I smirk:

"Nyekulturni!"

Asuka is incensed, face almost the color of her hair, but can't think of a comeback. She has NO idea which language I spoke in.

_Now you know what Shinji goes through with you and your German!_

Hitomi and Hikari, in stereo, ask in a loud voice:

"Why did you call her uncultured?"

_OOPS!!!_

_It seems __SOME__OTHER__PEOPLE__ know Russian around here!_

I beat a quick retreat with a face that is flaming red, all thoughts of talking to Hitomi being shot down in flames. All I can think of is flight; remove myself from the area of confrontation.

Down the stairs, I'm almost knocking down students as I rush head-long for the exit of the school. Passing the lockers, not stopping for my street shoes, I burst through the entrance doors and run aimlessly for the streets.

After about two blocks from the school, I slow down and realize that I'm being followed. I use a window of the Seven-Eleven on my left to see who it is. I stop dead as I realize Hitomi is following me. She walks up to me, her waist-length raven black hair swirling around her face as she regards my reflection in the window.

"You know, you didn't have to do that. You're just playing into her hands. And both of you sound like nine-year olds when you bicker like spoiled brats."

_My GOD! A girl with __intelligence_

"Sometimes she just pisses me off. Sometimes I just want to scream: "STIFLE, EDITH!!"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY??"

"Uh...Stifle, Edith??"

"Where did you hear that quote from?"

_Think fast; think fast...no one knows a forty-two year old sitcom here._

"UUHHH...I found it on the Internet under funny quotes."

I'm met with a look that can only be described as "The Hairy Eyeball."

"I'll believe that when Evangelions fly," she sarcastically states.

_If you only knew._

Summoning what courage I have left, I hesitantly turn towards Hitomi and querulously ask:

"Hitomi, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Nothing much, why?" She replies in an inquiring tone.

"I was wondering if you would like to go out with me to dinner and maybe a movie?"

"I...don't know. I don't really know you," she hesitantly replies. Her arms held in front of her, fingers folded together. She seems to be debating whether or not to trust me.

_DAMN ASUKA AND HER COMMENTS! Ok, how to let her off the hook gracefully? With no pressure?... AH HAH!! _

"How about a ramen stand, and some conversation instead?", I carefully ask.

"No pressure, and it can be somewhere we both know."

Her whole demeanor brightens and she says: "That sounds good. Which stand and when?"

_She's moved closer to me as our conversation has gone on._

"The stand across from the arcade, and ...how about five o' clock, tomorrow?"

_Oh my, I forgot how good some women smell. My nose is twitching. Do they use pheromones in their perfume?_

"That's fine with me. Are you going back to school?"

"No. They can't teach me any more than I already know.", I smugly state.

With a haughty expression on her angelic face she jokingly remarks: "Full of yourself, aren't you?"

"Well..."

"I'm not going back, either. I'd rather talk with you than listen to another Second Impact sleeping lesson."

"Thank you, I think..."

She turns and points to the upper terraces of the city and tells me: "Let's go this way. It's on the way home for me."

"OK, and on the way I'll tell you about myself. Sound fair?"

She turns to give me a feline grin and comes back with: "As long as I don't have to bare my soul in return."

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**THE SAME NIGHT:**

I'm laying in bed thinking about Hitomi. The fun we had walking together around town. Talking about anything and everything. She likes the same music as me. We like the same type of movies.

If I didn't know better, I would say she came from the same era as me.

_She is so comfortable to be around. I have never felt so relaxed and calm around another woman._

_Woman? This is a fourteen-year old girl!!_

_What is going on here??_

_Why do I... think...that..sh..._

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I find myself on a plain of what looks like glass. I see nothing around me in all directions.

Then I hear a voice say: "Of course, I'm a woman, what did you expect?"

I then see Hitomi materialize in front of me, but superimposed over her body like a ghost-image, is a blond haired woman about my original age. The ghost-image looks like the woman in the Terminal at Canton-Akron Airport before I left on my flight.

They both speak with the same voice as they say: "Did you think I was an immature adult? Something you could play your games with?"

The ghost version of her swells in size, and rumbles: "You puny little boy!"

"Now wait a minute here," I feel myself swell up as I roar in indignation. "I'm old enough to be your father!"

"Who are you?" they inquire, the ghost persona shrinking back to normal size.

"I'm Roger/Masahiro," we reply in a dual echo.

"Who are you?", we ask.

"I'm Ann/Hitomi", they quietly answer.

"This doesn't make sense", I angrily shout.

"I know", they meekly state.

The voice of Lillith rings in my head as she dryly says: "_**Now you both know.**_"

The glass-floored room shatters, and Ann/Hitomi whirls away. I drop into darkness and a deep, dream less slumber.

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**NEXT MORNING:**

I wake up remembering the dream, and what was said between us. Also, Lillith was in there somewhere. But Hitomi...she was different. Almost like she was two separate people. And one of them was REALLY snide.

_Is this the way she really is? What have I got myself into??_

_And why did I have an echo, also? Can Masahiro talk in my dreams? I thought I displaced him?!??_

I finally drag my sorry ass out of bed; check the clock.

_EIGHT THIRTY IN THE MORNING!!_

_I'M LATE FOR SCHOOL!!_

I immediately go into hyper mode: throw on my clothes, grab some rice from the cooker, and choke it down.

As I'm flying out the door, backpack slung over my right shoulder and Compaq on the left, I hear the sounds of conflict from the next apartment.

Asuka is arguing with Shinji about where they are going to go today.

_WHERE THEY ARE GOING??_

_WAITAMINIT!!!_

_WHAT DAY IS IT??_

_OH, SHIT! IT'S SUNDAY!_

_NO SCHOOL!!_

Well, now that I feel like a total idiot, I may as well find something to do.

I flip my cell phone open, and speed dial Raven's Garage.

"Moshi, moshi?" I hear from the receiver, "This is Raven's Garage."

"Yes, this is Kurokawa Masahiro, I was wondering how far you had gotten on the car?"

"Kurokawa...? Oh, yes. I remember now. Ryosuke sent you to me, didn't he?"

"Yes, Doctor," remembering that he liked to be called Doctor, NOTPOPS!

"I should have the vehicle ready by next Monday. By the way, what are you planning to do with it? It has too much horsepower and torque to run efficiently on the street. Are you planning to professionally race it?"

"No sir, it is an engineering experiment. There would be no roads in all of Japan to fully use all of the potential of the vehicle."

"I will argue with you on that point. The way you have set up the suspension, the forward winglets with the ring-gyros, and the rear spoiler, you would have a vehicle which could outrun the ADP with their new interceptors. And they have been known to reach speeds of three hundred and forty-nine KPH."

"Is that ALL the faster he will do, Doctor?"

"With the modifications made to the body, undercarriage, and general streamlining, I think you should be able to find a top speed of three hundred and seventy-nine KPH, if you can find a long enough strait section of road."

_OH MY GHOD!! TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE MILES AN HOUR!!!_

"So, he will be ready on next Monday, Doctor?"

"Yes, what do you want me to do when he is done?"

"Please deliver him to Tokyo-Three Junior High School.

I will take delivery of him at the end of the school day."

"Please be careful, Kurokawa-san. He is VERY high-spirited."

"Did you fill the tank with "Raven's Special?"

"Yes. Sixty-eight litres. Do Not Take The Vehicle Over Sixty-Eight hundred RPM!!!"

"Thank you, Doctor. I will see you next Monday. The balance of the money for the modifications will be transferred as soon as I terminate this conversation."

"A pleasure doing business with you, Kurokawa-san. It will be as you say."

"Good morning," I state as I flip the phone shut.

At least the car will be done now.

I must find a route that I can practice on before Takumi shows up.

_OH, DAMN!!! HITOMI!!! FIVE TONIGHT AT THE RAMEN STAND!!! I'VE GOT TO FIND SOME CLOTHES FOR THE DATE!! SHIT...where do I ...where is the shopping ... ah.. fuckit. _

Still mentally castigating myself, I drop my backpack and Compaq off in the Genkan of my apartment, then head toward the shopping district to find something to wear for my encounter with Hitomi.

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A/N:

No, there will be no races between Roger/Masahiro and Initial D characters! The car is my plot device for bringing the characters together. And also as a proof of who he is and what he says is true. The DVDs are also proof of what he says, but reality will be Murphy-ized for him. Can't have everything laid-out like a blueprint, now, can we?

Next time: Clothing shopping, a date, and a mentor or two. CRB 4407 Chapter Three: Depend on You.

Please read and review.


	3. Chapter 3

**CRB 4407**

**By J****intsu**** Wednesday, November 15, 2006**

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**Disclaimer:**

All characters, names, and what ever else are property of Gainax, Movic, TV Tokyo, NAS, ADV Films, Wedge Link, OB Planning, Pastel, Studio Gallop, Frontline, Avex, TOKYOPOP, AIC, Artmic, Youmex, or whomever else I am forgetting to name. Just so they all know they are getting credit for the characters. As much as it agonizes me to say this, I did not create any of these characters except for Sato Hitomi and Kurokawa Masahiro. Much to my disappointment, I also did not create the initial plot for this series. That credit goes to Hideaki Anno alone.

So the hoard of slavering lawyers can go lie down for a century or two. This was written for fun, not for profit. I'm only borrowing the characters for a little while. I promise I'll give them back!

I don't own shit, and already filed bankruptcy, so look to someone else!

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**CHAPTER THREE**

**Depend on You**

_You can be my only star,_

_Dance with me, we're together._

_You can be my only star,_

_Shine for me, and forever._

_Susan Bell:_

_My Only Star_

_Initial D Soundtrack_

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**SUNDAY 9:00 AM:**

I head for the commercial district of town, looking for clothing. I pass many small shops on tight narrow streets, dealing in anything that can be sold. But my first stop is a convenience store. Walking through the doors, I make a beeline for the magazines. Finding the style magazines, I start checking what the well-dressed young man of Tokyo-3 should wear. I browse through Shukan:SPA, Playboy, and Esquire, to give me a rational, objective outlook on what I should purchase. With these examples locked in my brain, I quickly leave the store behind me.

Now I need to find somewhere that sells what I have learned from the magazines. While walking through the area, I find numerous small shops advertising the latest styles. Picking one that has the most traffic, I walk through the doors to find a cornucopia of clothing styles from 2010 to today. Searching the isles for what I have seen in the magazines, I find that I have _too_ many choices. They have everything here that they talked about. And it won't _quite_ cost me the shirt off my back for my purchases. Racing around the isles, I pluck up items that match the descriptions of the stories I read in Shukan:SPA.

My choices include shirts, pants, shoes, and accessories; all that a well-dressed male could hope to have acquired in his quest for female companionship in the sexual wars. By the time I am done, my shopping cart is overflowing with clothing. I may be able to pay for this excess, but trying to get it home is another matter, indeed. Leaving my purchases at the store, I wander the shopping district looking for more goodies to buy.

_I always liked shopping and looking at all the different shops. And it's a good way to burn time until my date. I'll just take any additional crap that I buy to the first store, then call a cab._

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Paying off the cab, which cost me 49,000 yen, I look up at the sixth floor where I live.

_Looks like at __least__ three trips to get everything up there._

Lugging bags of clothing is not on my list of fun things to do. I open the elevator and prop a bag in the doorway. The door then shuts and crushes my bag. Getting the door open again, I search through this bag for one of the bandannas I bought. Pulling it out of the bag, I drape it over the sensor eye in the doorjamb. Now the bastard stays open. Leaving my bag in the elevator, I swiftly march out to the entrance foyer where I left the rest of my plunder. Making three trips to the elevator, I finally concentrate my spoils from shopping in the back corner of the movable room. Removing my bandanna from the doorjamb, the door slides shut in preparation for its upward climb. Punching the button for the sixth floor, I think about how I'm going to get all this to my apartment.

As the door opens, I'm met by Misato, we almost run each other down.

Looking at all the bags and seeing me in new clothes, she smirks at me and asks: "Have fun shopping? It looks like you bought out the local Men's Warehouse. Planning on _impressing_ someone, are we?"

"Misato, I would REALLY appreciate it if you could help me get all this crap to my apartment. I rather went overboard on the clothes. Besides, I wanted to have something to wear besides school uniforms. And yes, I have someone to meet for dinner tonight."

"OHHH...any one I know? Maybe I can put in a good word for you. Is she cute? Or maybe she's in your class? Come on,...tell me who she is?"

"After you help me with these bags. PLEASE MISATO! I ONLY HAVE AN HOUR TO GET READY!!"

"AHHH...you're no fun! All right, give me some of those bags. Lets get you home so you can go on your date."

With Misato helping me, the bag-drag takes much less time. Piling my shopping conquests near the couch, Misato then gives me an appraising look.

"OK, out with it. Who is she and where are you going tonight?"

"Just because my dad isn't here doesn't mean you can browbeat me into submission, Misato. I do have my own "PRIVATE" life to live. I tell you _anything_, and it'll be all over NERV in a day; two days for school. You know you can't keep good gossip to yourself."

"_**Hey**_, you said you would _tell__me_ if I helped you!"

Pushing her out of my apartment, I laughingly tell her: "So I lied; sue me! I got to get ready _now_, goodbye!"

Shutting the door on a still-sputtering Misato, I start going through my bags of plunder for an outfit for my date. Finally choosing a pair of tan Chinos, a green button-down shirt, a black leather vest, and a pair of brown loafers, I arrange it all on my bed. I then jump into the shower for a quick clean-up.

After the shower and getting dressed, I have thirty minutes to get to the ramen stand. Making a last-minute check of my appearance, I race out the door.

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Finding a florist shop on the way to the stand was a wonderful bonus. Making my purchases, I only have another block to go. As I reach the ramen stand, I check my Seiko.

_Great, I'm early by five minutes. Better to be early than late. Hope she gets here soon._

As the school clock tower chimes the hour, I see Hitomi turning the last corner towards me. She is wearing some kind of black denim shorts, knee-high black stockings, and _very_ pointed gold high-heels. A black hoodie with a blue denim vest completes her ensemble. An I-Pod is in the right pocket of her vest, the earphones snaking upwards to her hair-covered ears. I look at her face and see happiness reflected there. Her steps quicken as she waves at me, drawing closer to my position. Getting a better look at her as she gets closer to me, I'm pleased with what I see.

_Damn, she looks good! Much better than that school uniform, she looks sexy this way! She really fills out those shorts, and those stockings really show off her legs, too. _

"Well, are you going to stand there with that goofy look on your face all evening, or are you going to invite me to dinner?" she sarcastically asks me, the smile on her face taking the sting out of her response.

_DUH!! Score: Hitomi-1, Brain-dead idiot-0._

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(Music: I've Been Here Before, By Hiroshima)

I finally get my act in gear and escort her to a table. Pulling out the chair for her, she sits down at the small table I had chosen earlier.

"These are for you, Hitomi." I softly remark to her, handing her two wrapped packages.

"Thank you, Masahiro." she happily replies, "I can guess what's in this one, but what is in here?" Holding the second package in her hands, she gives me an inquiring gaze.

"I guess you'll just have to open it to find out, ne? But please,… wait until after we eat, if that's all right with you."

"Oh...I guess I can wait. Flowers in the first one, right?"

"Well it might be a snake in there, or maybe a dead squid."

"Ha ha...it better not be, for your sake!"

"Well, open it up and find out."

She slowly and carefully removes the wrappings, and a sun-bright smile emerges from her face. She holds up three salmon and orange coloured roses to her nose and inhales their fragrance.

"They are so beautiful, and smell so wonderful...Thank you!"

"I'm glad you like them. I've always liked those kind of roses, myself."

While we're contemplating roses, gifts, and smells, our waitress arrives to take our order. Hitomi orders shark-fin ramen, while I choose roasted garlic with pork.

Making conversation as we wait for our ramen, Hitomi asks me, "Are you going on the trip to Okinawa? I've been there so many times that it's boring, now. I'm not sure that..."

She trails off as she notices my face. I can feel it myself; my stomach has dropped into my shoes. I'm trembling, cold sweat oozing from my brow. I must be pasty-white to her.

_Now I know where I'm at on the time line! Just before Sandelphon gets here. OH...SHIT!!!_

"What's wrong, Masahiro? You look like you just saw an Oni! Wait a minute...Okinawa! Is there something bad about that place that you remembered?"

Shaking out of my dread, I think quickly for an answer that might satisfy her curiosity. Still shaking, not meeting her eyes, I mumble:

"I have an obscene fear of water, Hitomi, mainly if it is deep. I don't swim well, so I'm deathly afraid of it."

Hating myself for this small deception, I go through with it anyway. I can't tell her that there will soon be an Angel attack; I may be on the front lines for it.

"I'm sorry...I didn't know, and I didn't mean to pry."

As she sits there, I can feel that she is uncomfortable hearing about my insecurities. Head bowed down, looking at the table; her hands are clenched together with her fingers twitching. She finally makes some inner decision; then focuses her serious gaze upon my face. With a quiet, timid voice, Hitomi says:

"I'm ...scared of small enclosed spaces. One time at school recently, while getting cleaning supplies out of the closet, someone accidentally shut the door on me. I almost broke that door down. As it was, I was jittery the rest of the day. I'm going to Aversion Therapy for it, but it still bothers me."

_My GOD! She's a claustrophobe! I wonder if NERV knows about this! At least they won't make her a pilot because of her fears. She would __never__ be able to tolerate the entry plug. _

Without even knowing it, she has grasped my hands in hers. The electric jolt from our contact is there again. In surprised shock, I whip my head up to look at her. I meet a pair of caring, mint-green eyes, gazing at me.

Like being synchronized together, we smile at each other, our fingers intertwining, our breathing increasing in pace with our heartbeats.

I can think of nothing to say. My higher brain functions have come to a screeching halt, caught in the gaze of this beautiful Japanese woman. A woman, I now know, I'm falling for. As I read her face and body language, I see the same thoughts and emotions that I'm feeling mirrored in her.

_I could just fall into her eyes forever. I feel so... My heart is... I want more of this! _

_However, she is fourteen years old. I'm forty-nine! Isn't this pedophilia? _

_No, I'm fourteen in the body that I inhabit; I can't go home. This is it for the rest of my life, however long that is. I should be happy that I was given a second chance to live. I'm not going to squander the gift I was given. I haven't been this happy since I was with Janet Russell!_

_LET IT GO! _

Leaning on the table, not even noticing that we're getting closer to each other, we have shut out the outside world. The only thing that matters to me right now, right this minute, is the woman in front of me.

_I only felt this way around Janet! __**This**__ is what the poets write about. Now I understand. Oh, I understand __**ALL**__ too well, now. Cupid has smacked me with a two-by-four, and Toji was right. Love stupidness, indeed!_

Our wonderful interlude is shattered by the waitress, who sets our ramen on the table beside our interlocked hands. Reluctantly breaking eye contact with Hitomi, I sheepishly thank our server.

The spell being broken, we concentrate on eating. For the next while, all that can be heard are the sounds of us slurping ramen. But I keep glancing over at Hitomi. Small quick glances between bites. I notice she's doing the same thing. This is enough to set us off in giggles. The giggles progress into full laughter, as we finally look at each other and acknowledge our silliness.

Our laughter finally running down, I fondly gaze at Hitomi and remark: "I guess I'm going to have to get rid of my T-shirt now."

With a gentle smile and questioning look she inquires: "What T-shirt is that?"

"The one that says: "Now taking applications for a Japanese Girlfriend." I think I finally found her, so I don't need to advertise any more."

"Oh yeah? And where did you find her?"

"She's right in front of me. At least I hope that she is. Would you like that? Being my girlfriend?"

Hitomi's face turns thoughtful, and playful-looking. In a mischievous tone of voice she says: "Oh, I don't know. There is a person that I've had my eye on. But I just don't know how to ask him out. You know...it's not the place of the girl to ask the guy."

"Tease."

"Flirt."

"Open your second package."

She smiles her Cheshire-cat grin at her winning the point, and grasps my second gift. Opening it, she gasps in surprise.

One of the other things they had at the florist shop was chocolate. Inside her package is five hundred grams of Lindt white chocolate.

"White chocolate! How did you know? I love this stuff!"

"I made an informed guess."

"Who told you about my secret vice?"

"Hikari was very helpful in giving me pointers."

"Well, what do you know? A guy who listens to women's opinions! Maybe I won't throw you back!"

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Leaving the ramen stand, we wander through the city towards Hitomi's house in the hills. Our hands are joined together as we enjoy each others company; time seems to stand still. As we make our assent to the upper terraces of the city, the sun reminds us of the time. Glorious reds and golds are painted on the western horizon to give us a view of unsurpassed beauty.

Making the final turn onto Hitomi's street, I find myself tensing up.

_GET...A... GRIP! It's not like you're going for dinner to meet her parents! My god, it's only the first date! RELAX! Act your age, not your body chronology! It __must__ be the damn hormones. _

"This is it, Hiro, I'm home."she softly says to me, the sun giving a radiant glow to her skin.

I turn to her, as we stand before her side door. I don't want this time to end. I want this day frozen at this point, not progressing any further, so that I can be happy forever. But time stands still for no man. Especially if the time you're in is not your own reality.

"Thank you, Hitomi. You made this day worthwhile for me. And I haven't had many of those in my life."

She warmly smiles at me and says: "You've done the same for me, Hiro. I feel comfortable around you. I don't feel like I need to be on my guard when I am with you."

As we are speaking to each other, we unconsciously draw closer, like moths to street lamps on a dark night.

"Can we do this again?", I shyly ask her. "I know some parks closer to where I'm living at. And I'd like to cook for you, sometime. If you'll let me?"

Her face lights with appreciation as she demurely says: "I'd like that, Hiro. Let's talk about it tomorrow at school, ok?"

"Tomorrow." I whisper as I lean in to kiss her lips. When our lips meet, electricity flows between us. My hair stands on end, as my toes curl in my shoes. I hear a small sound from Hitomi, and see she is as enraptured as I am.

She slowly breaks the kiss, almost unwillingly, and backs towards the door, still holding my hands.

"Thank you for a very enjoyable evening, Hiro. I know I will have pleasant dreams tonight."

Releasing her hands, I happily reply: "You are more than welcome, Hi-chan. Good night."

Walking back down the street, turning every now and then to look back at her, I'm filled with joy. I never had a date like this when I was "Roger," except with Janet.

I'm so wrapped up in my musing that I never hear the oncoming car behind me, until its lights flood the street before me.

Exhaust snarling, tires squealing, it drifts sideways past me to stop square in my path. The hackles come up on the back of my neck. Thoughts of kidnapping and/or assassination immediately spring to mind. Whipping my head from left to right, reaching for a non-existent weapon under my left armpit, I look for escape routes.

From inside the vehicle, I hear a semi-familiar voice ask: "Are you Kurokawa?"

Looking at the vehicle again, I notice that it is VERY familiar.

_I know of only __**one **__white car that has Fujiwara Tofu Shop painted on its door._

"Yes, that's me. Are you Takumi, or Bunta?"

I hear a chuckle from the car and then the voice says: "The old man is at home. He retired ten years ago and I run the shop part-time."

"What are you doing here, Takumi?"

"Ryosuke sent me. Get in. And not on the passenger side."

To say I'm shocked would be an understatement. I thought that Ryosuke would wait until my car came out of the shop. Obviously, he had other ideas. The last time I drove a Japanese FR was in 1989, and it was a Toyota Corolla with a 3KC motor. Most Harley's have more displacement than that car! Takumi's Truneo is a full race machine.

I hesitantly walk over and slide into the vacated driver's seat. Strapping on the four-point harness, I set up the seat and mirrors to my liking. When I'm finished, I glance over at Takumi, who has taken the passenger seat.

I see a twenty-something, light haired version of Fujiwara Bunta.

"Start the car, and I will guide you to where I want you to drive," he quietly states.

I follow his instructions and he navigates me through the subdivision to a major road: Route 138.

_This car is excessively responsive! The clutch is light; almost like I could depress it with my hand. There is very little to NO body roll in these slow corners. At least he has a heavy gas pedal. It makes it easier; more feedback for my right foot. Moreover, the brakes are touchy. I don't have a good feel for them, yet._

"At this time of day," Takumi dryly states, "there is little traffic here. This road goes to Gotemba. Accelerate to a comfortable speed for _you_. Do not worry about police; Ryosuke gave me a magnetic sticker for the car. Police will not chase this car with the NERV designator on it."

Hearing this declaration of protection from official retribution, I stomp the gas and watch the tach. Knowing from the anime that I have an 11,000 RPM redline, I start playing heel and toe with the pedals.

Watching the road, working the corners, I can feel the car come alive as I climb into the higher revs. Takumi is silent; he is watching my movements as I throw his car through the corners. On a long sweeper to the left, he interrupts my concentration.

"Keep the tach at 8500, here. Down shift if you need to. Hug the inside line. I want you to exit this corner at 145 kilometres. Push now. Faster, the road is open. MORE… PUSH HARDER. DOWNSHIFT. More accelerator... more... Counter steer here. Push to 11,000, you are in the slot, now. Go to fourth. OK, hairpin coming up, to the right. Downshift...NO! Go to third."

The rapid-fire comments and commands are starting to take their toll. I'm sweating heavily; my concentration is wrapped tight as a drum.

_I never raced this hard at Mid-Ohio! I'm terrified of these narrow roads! And Takumi just sits there, like we're on a Sunday drive!... KUSO!!! IT'S TOO TIGHT!! I'M GOING LEFT!! MASH THE GAS, COUNTER STEER!!!! KAMI!!!_

"Use the emergency brake, LIGHTLY! Yes, more... More...Now, accelerate and counter steer to the right... RIGHT!! Now cross over, unload the frame, and straighten then load it in the opposite direction. Yes...that's good. Left hander coming up, three-quarter bank, three quarter throttle. NOT IN FOURTH! DOWNSHIFT TO THIRD! Keep the revs up, 130 kilometres through this corner...Come in tighter...TIGHTER... As close as you can get to the guard rail...TIGHTER...Drift the corner... DRIFT!!...That's it... Now accelerate! Straighten out... Yes... Fourth… Tunnel coming up... Go to third... Slow down... Tunnel exit ahead...pull off to the side and park."

At this point, I'm a shivering bag of abraded nerves; sweat-soaked and adrenaline pumped. I pull to the side of the road, shift to neutral, and engage the emergency brake. Popping the door open, I smack the centre of the four-point harness to release me from the seat, then drag my sorry ass out of the demonic machine. Hyper ventilating, falling on my ass beside the car, I can barely acknowledge my surroundings as I madly twitch from fight or flight endorphins.

Takumi rounds the front of his car and looks at me with a neutral expression.

"Can you get up and walk?" he asks. "You need to work off the nervous energy. If you just sit there, you will never get back into the car. I think it is like you Americans say: once thrown from the horse, you must get back on it, or you never will ride again."

Still twitching, I look up at him and ask: "You know about me?"

"Yes, Ryosuke told me that you came from America, and that you had training in driving on a professional course."

_Well, he didn't tell Takumi everything about me, at least. I don't think Takumi could realize the depth of my problems._

Takumi extends his hand to me, and I gratefully grasp it. He yanks me upward so that I may gain my footing and stand upright.

_Damn! He looks just like Bunta with that hooded-eye look. I can't tell if he is pleased, pissed, or laughing at me. All he needs is a cigarette hanging out of his mouth to look like his dad._

"If you have had enough, get in the passenger seat. I will drive you back to your apartment. Watch what I do. Watch my shift points as I run through the route we just finished. Examine the road, the curves, and the guardrail, as I attack our course. You need to train on this route. When you can run this course at an average of 172 kilometres, you will be ready for advanced training."

_Run this rat's nest of corners at an average of 107 miles an hour? You got to be kidding me!!...Wait... Takumi is a professional driver. Does that mean that I can..._

"I will talk with Ryosuke. I believe that you have the potential to drive the vehicle that he has in Kofu. Your skills are rusty; you must train every day to bring them up to speed. You were not comfortable in a lighter car. You are used to a much heavier vehicle, like what is in the tube in Kofu. Your reactions and timing are fixed on that vehicle. Yes, Ryosuke told me that the car in Kofu was your choice of weapon for the streets. I have driven that monster, and it is a hair-trigger road rocket. I race professionally; no longer running on the streets. That car is nothing more than an engineering expression for excessive horsepower."

_GRRRRRR...don't say anything, let it go. He is training you, after all._

"Now, let's get you home. Tighten your harness securely. I noticed that you were moving around in the seat while you were cornering. You must remove all negative variables, and fully concentrate on driving. On the positive side, if you can find someone you trust, and they have good driving skills, ask them to be a navigator for you. Another sixty-eight kilograms or so will not effect the handling of your vehicle. And the positive aspects of having another set of eyes on the road far out weigh the mass penalty."

While Takumi has been lecturing me, I have gratefully slid into the passenger bucket. Tightening the harness like he said, I'm reminded of my military flights.

_I used to yank the straps so tight that I couldn't sit up straight. At least that way, I wouldn't lose my balls to opening shock from the 'chute in case of ejection. However, I can see what he meant. I want to be solidly planted in the seat. _

Just before Takumi pulls out onto the roadway, a metallic-green car slashes through the corner and is swallowed by the tunnel. I glimpse ..._blue hair_?

"That looked like "Godfoot's" car. But he died four years ago. At least someone is using it the way it should be run. Ready, Masahiro?"

_Godfoot's car? Blue hair? Dead for four years? Nissan R-34 Skyline? I know only one person with blue hair in Tokyo-3! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON! _

Pulling myself out of the mental quagmire of my thoughts, I observe Takumi as he runs us back the way we came, building speed as he adroitly uses everything in his environment to maximize his velocity. Clutch, brake, and gas pedal are used so smoothly that I could believe this car is an automatic. Glancing up out of the cockpit, I look at the road. I instantly panic. The landscape is blurred from our rate of speed. Quickly snapping a look at the Speedo, I feel the blood drain from my face.

_HE'S ALL READY DOING 190 KLICKS! AND THE RIGHT-HANDER IS COMING UP! DAMMIT, SLOW DOWN!!!_

My body is tensed like a coil spring, my feet reaching for clutch and brake pedals, which were never installed on the passenger side. My right hand is twitching for a shift lever where there is only an armrest.

_This is __so__ fucked-up! I'm trying to play this game with both sides of the car! I've only driven one other right-hand drive car before this! I'm used to American cars, and left-hand drive! THIS SUCKS THE BIG WEENIE!!! _

We use the whole road in the corner. Takumi drifts in to the guard rail, following the curve, and ACCELERATES!! By this point, I'm a corpse waiting for the Grim Reaper to climb into the passenger window and claim me. Gone is the idea of watching him orchestrate his car through corners. The main thoughts my terrified brain has at this moment are:

_DON'T PISS YOUR PANTS!! LOOK ANYWHERE BUT OUT THE WINDSHIELD!! _

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Takumi pulls in to the apartment complex, parking in the only space that gives him a straight shot out onto Route 75. It _would_ be beside Misato's Renault Alpine. Almost like fate decreed it. I wearily crawl out of the car and shut the door. Takumi gives me a smile and a nod of his head, then makes a noisy exit to the street. Standing in the parking lot, dumbfounded and still trying to recover, I hear the door behind me, which leads to the entrance foyer, open.

Shock and disbelief still freezing my body, I can only turn my head towards the door. I see Misato in her cut-offs and yellow T-shirt striding towards me. She walks right up to me, watching the robotic movement of my head and general immobility of the rest of my body. Taking stock of my rocky disposition, she asks me:

"Who was that, Masahiro? And why do you look like a discount-store mannequin? Did he bring you back after your date? Your date didn't go that bad, did it?"

Finally snapping out of my "DUH!" moment, I rewind her comments to me.

"That was a friend of a mutual friend of ours, Misato. And yes, he brought me back from my date with Hitomi."

I _instantly_ realize my mistake. Too bad, it doesn't help me.

"_You_ were out on a date with _Sato__Hitomi_?!!?.. You sly dog! … The whole male population of your school is after her! … How did you get so lucky? … Where did you go? What did..."

"MISATO," I angrily interrupt, "don't you _even_ say a word about this! It was our first date, and if you start blabbing, it will probably be our last!"

"For your sake, I'll keep quiet. But you have to tell me about it," she contritely informs me.

"And your friend of a friend: I saw that car and heard it. I can see the rubber he left in the parking lot." She has a predatory look on her face as she walks right up to me, violating my personal space. Looking down into my eyes, she inquires:

"His car is fast, isn't it? Do you think you could introduce us? I haven't had a decent challenge since Germany."

She has an air of superiority about her, like nothing could touch her and her "_piece du shit"_ Renault. Her eyes are narrowed, a smirk firmly planted upon her face, fists clenched and planted on her hips. Her whole body language is screaming: "I'm the best, bring it on!"

_Misato, you don't have a clue. He would chew you up and spit you out without even trying. But I would __dearly__ like to watch the fireworks when he totally owns you!_

Walking towards the foyer past Misato, I say over my shoulder: "I'll see what I can do, Misa, but he only has a very limited time that he can be around."

With a questioning look on her face she asks, "Why is that? Does his job keep him from being around?"

I stop at the doorway, turn around, and give her my best Gendo smirk. In a condescending tone of voice I state, "Yes, his job keeps him fairly well occupied. He races in the WRC championships. His name is Fujiwara Takumi."

The look on Misato's totally frozen and disbelieving face: _PRICELESS!!_

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A/N:

Hope you liked my little interlude. Finally had my date with Hitomi! And Takumi enters and gives me heart failure. You can use Google Earth to find the route Takumi and I drove in this story. Find Lake Ashi, go north to Hakone, and look for the Route 75 and 138 interchange.

Or go to my profile page and click the link for Photobucket.

Who will Masahiro find to be his navigator? When will Misato finally spill the beans about Masahiro and Hitomi? And how is he going to fight an Angel with no EVA?

I have some snapshots from Google Earth that show the _approximate_ positions of Tokyo-3 and other places in my story. I am only guessing the positions of the characters domiciles. Photos are real world, my story, of course, is not. The link to them is on my profile page.

Everything is happening according to the scenario.

BWHAAAAAAAAAHH!!!

Please read and review.


	4. Chapter 4

**CRB 4407 **

**By ****Jintsu**** Wednesday, November 15, 2006**

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**Disclaimer:**

As much as it agonizes me to say this, I did not create any of these characters except for Sato Hitomi and Kurokawa Masahiro. Much to my disappointment, I also did not create the initial plot for this series. That credit goes to Hideaki Anno alone.

So the hoard of slavering lawyers can go lie down for a century or two. This was written for fun, not for profit. I'm only borrowing the characters for a little while. I promise I'll give them back!

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**Chapter Four:**

**Fight the Good Fight**

It's not how fast you can go

The force goes into the flow

If you pick-up the beat

You can forget about the heat…

Rush

Marathon

Power Windows

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I am sitting at home on my balcony after my very entertaining evening. Kicking back in my recliner, I regard the city as it is softly wrapped in its shroud of twilight. Florescent and incandescent illumination slowly blaze to life in a languid wave from the east, traveling towards the western horizon.

Taking small sips of my Kirin Iciban beer, I reminisce over my date with Hitomi.

_For a first date, that did not go too badly. She did like my gifts so that is a point in my favour. Our conversation was wonderful; I did not get tongue-tied or say anything out of place. The walk afterwards was a joy that I haven't experienced in a long time. The only faux paux was the upcoming trip and yet to be disclosed Angel capture. _

_So now I know where I am in relation to this world's time line. It could have been worse: dropped in during the middle of the JSSDF massacre in NERV._

I take a long pull on the Iciban bottle, and remember the brutal ending of the anime. Even though it is a warm and comfortable night, I feel a shiver run down my spine. I can try to do something about all this pain and angst but I'm not sure what I may be able to do. I am only one person, and a kid to boot. Who would listen to me? I am sure Ikari-Ass would, and then send me to the people with rubber hoses and electrodes. That would end my ability to do anything, at that point. Kaji might do the same thing to me since he is a triple agent. I trust Ritsuko about as far as I could throw an EVA. Misato is still an unknown; she may be the only person I might be able to confide in.

Twilight has finally given way to early-evening darkness. I look upwards to scan the skies for the familiar stars and constellations that I remember from home. Slightly out of whack, but still recognizable, I begin picking out the stars and patterns I know. After a short while of stargazing, I drain my beer and go inside for another.

Bypassing the sake on the door of the fridge, I remove another bottle of Iciban from the six-pack on the shelf. Shuffling back to the living room in the near-dark apartment, I pause before my laptop. The glow from the screensaver gives the area an eerie light, as if someone had left some sort of luminous waterfall turned on. From the JBL Pro speakers the melodious voice of Tarja Turunen wafts through my apartment. "Everdream" is just finishing, the next track will be "Deep, Silent, Complete." If a person could ever need and have a night wish come true, it would be me; here and now.

_Use that almost five decades worth of grey matter and worldly experience to figure out what your next moves will be. And what did Ikari mean by the "three of us" when I was in his office?_

Pondering these thoughts, I go back to the balcony and its velvet-enshrouded darkness; the symphonic power metal of Nightwish softly following me into the shadows as I resume my stargazing.

Ensconcing myself in my comfortable recliner, I reminisce about my driving lessons and surprising encounter with the First Children.

First off, I look at Takumi. He is older, Second Impact has not affected him. He is mature, more experienced and comfortable with himself. Gone is the uncertain boy-racer. In his place is a professional racer; steely nerves and ice-water running through his veins.

I then look at the course he specified. It is a wonderful training ground for the uninitiated. It will take the unsuspecting driver, and lull them into a feeling of comfort. Until said driver hits certain points in the course. Then the road will kill them. Run too fat in a corner, shave an apex too thin, you _will_ die. Centripetal force and gravity will be your undertakers.

Taking into account the suspension set-up of "Iron Helix," and the training that I absorbed from Mid-Ohio, I run the course in my mind. What I find is not pretty. Takumi is right, I need a navigator to guide me through the course. There are too many blind curves, hairpins, and terrain changes for me to keep up with at this time, driving by myself.

Then there was the hard-charging green R-34, which whipped into the tunnel. Focusing on that incident, I slow time. The vehicle pitches tightly into the corner, aiming for the best line through the tunnel. Zooming-in on the cockpit, I see not blue hair, but the intense visage of the First Children. She is bending the beast to her will, G-forces ramming her body to the outside of the curve. Her cerulean eyes are narrowed in concentration, evaluating the road in front of her as she pitches into the corner. Then she is gone, the tunnel swallowing the still-accelerating R-34.

The mental picture I get is Rei driving full-out, while listening to "Jane", by Jefferson Starship. A lethal combination if you can't handle it. But then again, "Jane" is in 2/2 time. I drive in 4/4 time, my song timing for routes is _very_ well planned out. And the song has to feel right for the course. I've done this before, chopping almost a minute off my best time listening to music that matched the course.

_Oh, yeah! Inject the Venom, Sick Again, Manic Mechanic, Night of Fire, Noizy Tribe, Dogfight, all songs that I can drive hard while listening to._

I come out of my trance, and reflect upon what I have discovered. The driving I shove to the back of my mind. I will take care of that the next time I drive the course.

Rei is a different matter with which to contend.

_No wonder she got to the cages before everyone else in the series! Did Gendo buy the car for her, or did she get it on her own? Who taught her to drive like that? But then, if you know that you cannot die, how would you attack a course? _

_With no fear, dive into the corners as tight as you can get. Use the whole road for your line; be as aggressive as you can force the machine to be. Do this until something breaks, you die, or you finish the course._

_I pity tha fool that gets between the First Child and her goal! _

My musing is interrupted by the shrill tones of my telephone. I unfold myself and leave the recliner. Leaving my balcony and walking into the kitchen, I grab the foul instrument from the wall, and put it to my ear.

"Moshi, moshi?" I ask.

"Hello, Hiro. I was just wondering if you got home all right. I saw you get into that car that almost hit you. I called the Police, but they said that it was NERV business. Are you all right?"

My heart is warmed by the concern Hitomi has shown.

_DAMN! MY EYES ARE TEARING UP! WHO __ARE__ YOU TO DO THIS TO ME? _

"Thank you for your concern, Hi-chan. That was my driving instructor. He took me out for some lessons in driving."

"So, you're all right then? I was worried about kidnapping and such. You just got in the car, and drove off. I've never seen that car around here before."

"My instructor is from farther north of us. This is the first time he has been down here. One of the people at NERV recommended him as an excellent driver and teacher."

"Wait a minute, why do you need lessons in driving? Are you getting a car? How can you own a car; you're only fourteen? What's going on Hiro?"

"Hi-chan, I already own a car."

_I hope that I do._

"It's the same type that I had while I was in America. As for owning a car, the government doesn't care how old you are, as long as you can insure it and pay the taxes on it. Driving it is another matter, entirely. My license comes from America; it is an International drivers license. So I can drive anywhere in the world with this permit. The problem is that the roads are so narrow here. I didn't have that situation in America; the roads are all super highways compared to this."

"What kind of car is it, and when do I get a ride, Hiro?"

"As soon as the mechanic releases the car to me, you'll get a ride in it. The car is a Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, assembled in 1986. It is known as a poor man's Corvette. It's red, with black interior colouring."

"Does this car have hood scoops that look like nostrils?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"I saw one like that a long time ago."

"You did? Where was it? I thought I had the only one with that hood?"

"Uhhh… It was pretty far north-east from here. I don't think its even on the road, anymore. The driver was a real idiot, extremely snide and rude."

"That's a shame that the car is gone, there aren't many of them left on the road. That guy must have _really_ been bad to incite your ire. I'm glad I'm not him.

"Be happy you're not. At the time, I wanted to kill him for his impudence."

"Woah! He must have _extremely_ pissed you off!" I've never heard you being this angry about anything."

"It was a bad time; right before a flight I was taking… Can we talk about something else? This brings back bad memories of that time."

_I have never heard Hitomi like this; she never glossed-over anything we talked about. This must really bother her. Time to switch to a new topic._

"So… when is our next date? I really want to go out again. How about a real dinner at a restaurant in town?"

"I'll talk to you at school about that Hiro. I have to go now. Talk to you later, Ja ne."

With that, I end up listening to a dial tone. I hope that _I_ didn't piss her off. Hanging the phone up, I shuffle back to the couch, to do some more thinking.

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The next day at school, Hitomi seems to be distant, like she has something on her mind that won't let go. Letting the whole idea of asking her out at this time go, I concentrate my time on my fellow pilots. Since I know that Shinji cooks for Asuka and Misato, I work this angle. Cornering Shinji at the lunch break, I ask him about his cooking.

"So, what do you think about adding leeks to your Miso soup?" I ask him as we climb the steps to the roof of the school.

"I like it as a different embellishment for the stock Miso that so many people use every day. On top of that, sometimes I like to add cubed potatoes. It's just a thought, I'm not saying that what you do is bland or anything like that. It's just that other people have other ideas that maybe something that you might try. Let me give you my recipe for Miso soup, then you decide what you want."

"That's a good idea, Masahiro. Let me have your recipe, and I'll look at it tonight. God knows, Asuka has been asking for different tastes in my cooking. Maybe this will take away some of the bitching from her," Shinji states as he opens his bento.

As Kensuke and Toji make their way to our spot, I mention to Shinji: "I'm going grocery shopping after school, want to come with me?"

Picking up on the end of our conversation, Toji exclaims, "Don't tell me that you're throwing the "Red Devil" over for Masahiro, Shinji! I thought you went for girls!"

"Toji," I grate out in mock-anger, "you better be careful, or I'll tell the Class Rep that you have a crush on her."

"WOAH! WAITAMINIT! Where do you get off saying that about me?"

"Because," Kensuke says, interjecting himself into the conversation, "everyone except for the two of you can see it."

"You must be blind, Toji. She has done EVERYTHING but throw herself at you, and you still can't see it." He pushes his glasses back up on his nose with his middle finger, staring directly at Toji.

"Come on, man, look at reality. The whole class knows about this, but you seem to be dense, or totally oblivious to what is going on. If Hikari wasn't so fixated on you, I would have tried for her."

At this point, you could hear a pin drop at one hundred metres.

Looking at the frozen tableau of two shocked teens and one smirking otaku, I pick-up my last thread of conversation where we were interrupted.

"So… do you still want to go grocery shopping with me, Shinji?"

"Aahhh… It's better than listening to this crap." Shinji says with a small amount of embarrassment.

Luckily, the bell rings for the end of lunch. I will e-mail Shinji in class with a list for anything else we might need to pick-up at the grocery store.

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Stopping at the local grocery store, Shinji and I cruise the isles for ingredients to be used in our dinners. I notice he tends to pick bland or standard items for his cooking. I watch as he grabs a quarter-kilogram of white Miso. I myself use red Miso in my recipes. As Shinji continues to shop, I take note of the differences between us. Five minutes later, he is done with his shopping. I haven't even started on my own list of things to buy. It was just interesting to see what a native would choose for their kitchen.

Of course, being a Nipponese wanna-be, my tastes are quite different from the general masses of the host country. I seem to like the more flavorful and spicy tastes in Japanese cooking.

I start my own shopping at this time, picking up some Marukome red Miso, two hundred and fifty grams of Daikon, the same mass in scallions, two kilograms each of new potatoes and Jasmine rice. Shredded carrots, frozen corn and peas, and a dozen eggs round out my grocery list. Shinji looks at his purchases in the cart, and then looks at mine.

"What is all that for? Are you having a party with a bunch of people?" he hesitantly asks me.

"This is my normal shopping for a week for myself. Most of this is for my Miso soup. I have mushrooms left at home, so I didn't buy any. Meat I bought last week, so I don't need any now." I reply, as I start loading our plunder on the checkout belt.

It is a good thing that this store is so close to the apartment. I wouldn't be able to carry all of this too far. Shinji has three small bags; no problem for him to get home. I have five bags to juggle. Slapping my NERV card down on the belt, I wait for my total.

"You didn't have to pay for everything, I have money from Misato to buy groceries," Shinji exclaims, visibly upset at having someone buy for him.

"It doesn't matter, the money all comes from the same place. You won't be able to spend all that you earned, anyway. Gendo will make sure of that."

"What do you mean by that, Hiro? What does my father have to do with our earnings? What do you…."

"Don't even worry about it, Shinji. Let's just say that he isn't worried about what we spend. It's all short-term loss to him, anyway. He's looking at the long term benefits.

Shinji gets a weird look on his face, as if he can't believe what he's hearing. He turns to face me and says the one thing I never expected him to say: "You sound like Kaji or Misato when you talk like that. Like you're older, or something. It just sounded weird for a second."

_SHIT! I'm falling back into my verbose mode. Fourteen year-old kids do not talk like that. I'm border-line talking down to him, also. Wake your ignorant ass up, and get with the programme!_

"It's from going to American schools. They try to get us to use a larger vocabulary so we don't all sound like we came from the backwoods."

"_God, I hope he buys that lame excuse."_

"That sounds lame to me," he observes, staring at me owl-eyed. "They didn't teach Nihongo in American schools, did they? How did you learn to speak it so fluently, and with a Tokyo accent?"

Picking my bags from the end of the check-out lane, I nod toward the exit door while walking towards it. Once we have left the store, I continue our conversation. Dredging-up memories from Masahiro's past, I spin my next lie.

"My mother taught me the language, along with English, before I started school. Her parents immigrated to America, and taught her the language the same way. She said I should embrace my heritage of two countries by learning about both, equally. Her parents came from old Tokyo, so that's how I got my accent. Mom always frowned on me when I used any language badly, or inaccurately."

Stopping at an intersection, we check for traffic, looking right then left before entering the crosswalk. Seeing no traffic or insanely-driven blue Renaults, we still hurriedly make our way across the intersection.

"So," I inquire, "What kind of things do you like to do, besides cooking?"

"Well, I enjoy playing my cello; it also helps me to calm down when things are bugging me. The Arcade is fun for games and hanging-out with Toji and Kensuke."

He starts to slow down in his walking pace, his gaze slightly downcast as he must be thinking about his life. I can see that he is starting to fall into a melancholy state, as I remember that he doesn't have a lot of hobbies to keep himself occupied.

Racking my brain, I try to think of things that he might like to do that I have knowledge of and interest in.

_He plays the cello, so he is an artist._

_Music, painting, maybe photography, and astronomy might be some topics to broach to him._

"I got some ideas for things to do Shinji," I remark, breaking both of us out of our respective introspective states, "I'll tell you about them when we get back and start dinner."

"That's … great, Masahiro. I'd like to do some other things. I… don't have a lot of fun right now, because of piloting."

Seeing him look at me with those shining eyes, so full of hope for something to eradicate his feelings of despair, I make a silent pledge to myself.

_Gendo, you will pay for this atrocity, which you have visited upon your own son. Some how, some way, I will make sure that you will rue the day you left him to the tender mercies of ignominy._

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Making our way to the apartment complex, I drop off my groceries in my kitchen. Grabbing my laptop and a set of satellite speakers, I head next door. Pressing the Pin-pon doorbell, I wait for Shinji to let me in. As the door retracts silently into the wall, I am face-to-face with not Shinji, but Asuka.

_Oh, shit. Not now; not when I just got him a little out of his shell._

I can feel the waves of animosity literally rolling off her and beating on my psyche. She very rudely stares me in the eyes and grates out:

"What do you want, Fourth? I …"

I don't give her a chance to start on a rant.

"Nanka monku aru-no-ka?" I confidently state to her face.

_Don't back down to her. Show quiet confidence and strength. She respects these things in others._

To slam the last nail in the coffin, I frown menacingly and growl:

"Gan tobashiten-ja nëyo!"

I brush past the frozen Teutonic Terror as I kick off my zori sandals in the genkan. Padding barefoot into the kitchen, I set up my laptop and speakers on the table.

"What's cookin', Shinji?" I ask, as the wonderful aromas from the wok on the stove invade my nostrils.

"Uh… cashew chicken stir-fry, Masahiro. Do you like it?" he hesitantly asks me, a slight look of worry clouding his visage.

"I can always make something else for you."

_Damn, he is just too self-effacing for his own good. He needs a __huge__ dose of self-confidence!_

Leaving my introspection behind, I warmly reply to him with a smile:

"No need for that, Shinji. This smells like a four-star dinner to me. I've been cooking for myself for four years, and this is better than I can do."

The hackles on the back of my neck rise as I feel another presence invade our camaraderie. Looking at him, I see his happiness from my comment melt away to a fearful frown.

"It doesn't smell that great, but at least its better than Misato's cooking," the Germanic Grinch huffs as she arrogantly marches into the kitchen. Spying my laptop on the table, she coyly whines:

"Whose ancient piece of Scheiße is this? Our school gives us a better dumb terminal than this thing!"

Looking at the screen, she reaches for the mouse and clicks on an open programme. iTunes opens, and Nightwish rolls from the speakers.

**Ever felt away with me  
Just once that all I need  
Entwined in finding you one day… **

"Was ist dies?" she asks, looking at me with a sense of wonder on her features.

**Ever felt away without me  
My love, it lies so deep  
Ever dream of me**…

"Das hier ist mein Computer," I reply softly to her. Seeing that Shinji is totally lost in the German language, I switch back to Nihongo.

"This is my computer; what you're listening to is Nightwish: Everdream."

**Would you do it with me  
Heal the scars and change the stars  
Would you do it for me  
Turn loose the heaven within…**

The transfixed teens stare off into space, carried away by the beauty of orchestral music melded with power metal.

**I'd take you away  
Castaway on a lonely day  
Bosom for a teary cheek  
My song can but borrow your grace…**

Leaving Asuka enthralled within the music, I turn to Shinji, and nudge him lightly. As he starts and looks at me, I smile and point my head back toward the stove. I see a grateful grin as he silently mouths the words:

"Thank you."

_I'm just glad she didn't find the AMV of Evangelion: Everdream on the hard drive. I never would have been able to explain that away!_

In a low voice, so he doesn't disturb Asuka, Shinji in a heartfelt tone states to me:

"That was really beautiful. I never heard anyone combine music like that before."

"Just wait 'till the next track," I smirk, "it just gets better."

Turning to the stove, I ask him, "Do you want me to start on the rice? I have a good fried rice recipe that I use at home."

"Sure, go ahead. I want to see how you make yours."

Stirring, chopping, grating, and frying we work together to produce a meal worthy of both of our talents. With the music playing softly in the background, I catch a glimpse of Shinji from the corner of my eye.

He looks so happy doing this; doing for others. I hope that I can somehow help him to see that he _is_ a good person; worthy of the love of others. Something that I myself was denied for so long.

As I quickly fry the last ingredients for the fried rice, I hear a pair of shuffling feet stop behind us.

"Could… you make me a copy of that music, Masahiro?"

I turn to regard the Second Children, seeing something that I thought I would never see.

An honest, open smile.

"Sure, Asuka, all you need to do is ask. It's the least I can do for a friend."

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A/N:

Sorry for the long wait between chapters. It is extremely hard to get into the kids heads, sometimes. Moreover, it is difficult for me to try to write from the standpoint of a fourteen-year-old.

This chapter is basically some character interaction and build-up for the battle with Sandelphon. Since he doesn't have an EVA yet, don't expect to see 'Hiro at the volcano. However, this gives him time to interact with the First Children. (Yes, I'm going with the anime description for the children.)

Feedback, positive or negative is appreciated.

Positive will, of course, stroke the author's ego.

Negative will be used to fuel Unit-04.

Domo arigato.

Jintsu

Japanese translations taken from "Bad Japanese Words" at: www(dot) intercom(dot)net(slash)user(slash)logan1(slash)jap(dot)htm

What do you want ?

Nani-yo[f

Nanda-yo[m

Nanka monku aru-no-ka[m

[Three basic, all-around good phrases to use when someone really slots you off. These phrases usually command respect, or at least allow you to establish yourself.

[Japanese are infamous for staring. To have them return to their own affairs, a simple _Nanda-yo?!_ or _Nanka yö?!_ works well. But then again, the Japanese are also known for their persistence, too. If these two fail, simply tell them any of the following:

Don't stare at me!  
Jiro jiro minai-deyo[f  
Jiro jiro miruna-yo[m  
Gan tobashiten-ja nëyo[m

Leave him/her alone!  
Hottoke-ba[f/m  
Hottoke-yo[m

Was ist dies- What is this

Das hier ist mein Computer- This is my computer

The band Nightwish and their music do not belong to me. They are copyrighted to their respective owners.

**END:A/N**


	5. Chapter 5

**CRB 4407**

**By ****Jintsu**** Wednesday, November 15, 2006**

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**Disclaimer:**

As much as it agonizes me to say this, I did not create any of these characters except for Sato Hitomi and Kurokawa Masahiro. Much to my disappointment, I also did not create the initial plot for this series. That credit goes to Hideaki Anno alone.

So, the hoard of slavering lawyers can go lie down for a century or two. This was written for fun, not for profit. I'm only borrowing the characters for a little while. I promise I'll give them back!

SO GO AWAY, YOU STUPID ENGLISH KNNNNNNNNNIGITS!

Sometimes I wish I could be a lawyer. Then I would be paid for disparaging people's honesty, integrity, and ability to procreate. But then, I probably couldn't sleep at night.

Kudos to 94saturn for pre-reading this chapter. He has helped me immensely with the flow of this story.

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**CHAPTER FIVE **

_**IRON HELIX**_

_**Code accepted,**_

_**Ebola core released.**_

_**Brought upon by the ones who give you peace.**_

_**Flying after God**_

_**From an aimed release.**_

_**Arm the terror;**_

_**Target indiscrete.**_

_**Beg to see your Dark Lord**_

_**Genocide**_

_**Dehumanize**_

_**The Iron Helix**_

_**The Iron Helix**_

****

**_--------------------------------_**

_**Iron Helix**_

_**Drew Pictures**_

_**PC-CD Rom Game**_

_**Song and Lyrics**_

_**XORCIST**_

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**SUNDAY EVENING:**

Sitting in my Lay-Z-Bastard recliner on my balcony again, I break out my saké for a small celebration. Taking a nip from my choko as I gaze at the moonless overcast skies, I muse over my visit with my NERV-y neighbors.

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After our little impromptu dinner, Shinji and I discussed the hobbies that I thought about on our walk back to the apartments. He mentioned that he thought he might like to try photography and astronomy. He had this dreamy look on his face as he recounted his times at his teacher's home, laying on his back and staring up at the stars 'till the wee hours of the morning.

I resolved then, that I would buy a telescope to show him the wonders of the Universe. For good viewing, we would probably have to go to the terraces, where he had camped-out with Kensuke. There would be too much light pollution in Tokyo-3 for anything besides moon watching.

Shinji then mentioned that he would like to try taking pictures of his friends. He explained that he wanted some memories that wouldn't fade with time. He also wanted to try to figure out why Kensuke always carried his camera around.

Remembering my bag that Lillith so graciously transported here with me, this idea would be easy to bring to life.

We sat back and listened to more of my music after that. Surprisingly, Asuka left us alone for the most part. I think she appreciated the music slightly more than Shinji did, since she was fluent in English. Shinji could understand the language, but the slang seemed to trip him up from time to time. I expected this, since I knew that English was a required course in the Japanese school system. It taught them the nuts and bolts, but didn't give them the inherent flexibility of a native-speaker. Asuka broke in at this point and explained to Shinji about some of the grammatical traps of the English language. To my surprise, she didn't browbeat him or talk down to him while doing this. I could only hope that it was due to the music and/or my presence. Or maybe she finally grew a conscience.

Misato came home around 9:45PM, and the look on her face was priceless. Just the sight of the three of us sitting together on the couch, calmly discussing the music that was filtering through the apartment, left her gaping.

Maybe music doth have charms to soothe the savage EVA beast.

I left soon afterwards to prepare for school the next morning. I was excited the whole time that I was with the kids, because tomorrow "Iron Helix" would be delivered to the school. Ryosuke had phoned while we were eating and had given me a conditional "yes" to buying my car back. It was all I could do to keep from jumping up and down and screaming "Hampa-ja nai!"

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Returning to the present, I see a quarter-phase moon low on the horizon. Clouds are scuttling past it, giving the illusion that the moon is flying by at a fast pace. Noticing that my choko is empty, I reach for my tokkuri to refill it. Surprisingly, it is also empty. I grunt my disappointment and shuffle off to bed.

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**MONDAY MORNING:**

I'm really up today because "Iron Helix" will be delivered to the school today. With the International Drivers License that "I" own, I can now drive to school and NERV. As I grabbed my lunch and book bag, I was just about dancing on air. Even the ranting coming from next door didn't bring me down.

On my way towards school, I saw Toji and Kensuke in front of me by about a block. I figured this would be a good time to get Toji back for his "love stupidness" comment. I hurried to catch up with them. As I crept up to them unnoticed, I started eavesdropping on their conservation. Toji was going on about shooting some hoops after school, since it was still warm out. Kensuke was complaining about having no games to play after school, because all the games in the Arcade are lame, and he had beaten them all.

I broke in at this point and stated, "You know, I might have a solution to your boredom. I'm setting up a server for a game I used to play."

As we passed through the high gates in front of the school, Toji asked," What game you got, man?"

I felt crowding to my right and looked over to see Kensuke with a mad gleam in his eyes.

I stopped walking and the Pair halted with me. Glancing from side to side, as if looking for espionage agents and assassins, I gave them my best conspiratorial smirk and whispered:

"It's an old pre-second impact game; a first-person shooter. You like FPS games, don't you Kensuke?"

Said otaku's head nodded yes so quickly that it looked like he had a rubber neck.

"I'll set-up my own laptop as a server and use the school laptop as a router. That way, anyone can log-in while we're at school to play a game."

As we trudged up the stairs to the entrance, Kensuke was all over me about bandwidth, loop back cables, and how many people could play at one time. We got to our lockers and changed out of our street shoes. I reached into the back of the locker and pulled out a battery operated wireless-G router.

"This is how we will be connected to my laptop," I told Kensuke, as I stuffed it in my book bag. Toji looked at me a little weird, as if I just become another Kensuke. Kensuke was almost drooling from hardware envy.

We finally got to classroom 2-A and passed through the doorway into the room. Seeing that we were early, I went to my seat and started to set everything up. By the time the classroom filled, I had the server up and running.

As we started our school day, I leaned back in my seat and thought:

_The day is going great; it can't get any better than this!_

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The final bell rang, and I was out of my seat like a shot. As fast as I could, without killing anyone, I changed shoes and scrambled for the school parking lot. In front of me was a crowd of students gathered around my car. Hell, they were so thick I could barely tell that the car was maroon. I moved to the left side of the car and listened to the comments, while playing with the remote in my pocket. Toji, Kensuke, Shinji, and Asuka walked over to get a look at the new item of interest and discussion.

At that point, I hit the alarm. Everyone backed up and away from the car except me. I pulled the remote out of my pocket, and hit the remote start. As twelve-hundred horsepower thundered to life, all eyes looked at my ride, then to me. I looked around me with the biggest shit-eating grin on my face to see the looks of disbelief, shock, and envy.

"Hey dude, how are you going to get in there? There's no door handles!" Toji exclaimed as he looked at the side of the car.

I pressed the unlock button on the remote, and the drivers door popped open to full extension. I also popped the hatch and the passenger door on the remote, so I could remove the T-Tops. I reached up under the roof, pulled the handle towards the passenger side, and lifted and removed the drivers T-Top. Going to the rear, I placed the glass in the bag on the deck, and then went to the passenger side. Removing the top for that side, I also placed it in the bag.

By this time, the idle circuit has dropped the rpm's down to standard idle; the beast is warm now. I pushed the hatch down to the engagement point, and it sucked itself closed. As I slid into the driver's seat, Kensuke came over to my door.

Giving me an angry, jealous look while pushing his glasses back up on his face, he asked, "You DO have a license to drive that thing, don't you?"

I rolled down both windows, and had a grin from ear-to-ear for an answer. I shut the door and strapped the six-point Simpson harness on, as Takumi taught me. I checked the gauges for any anomalies. Finding none, I caught a commotion outside the car, as Asuka bulled her way over to my door.

"Hey Fourth Child, I want a ride in this American road hazard!" she scoffed. I looked out and saw Shinji looking on in envy. I caught his eye and winked.

"Sure, Asuka!" I replied, with an evil smirk plastered on my face. She climbed into the passenger seat, surprised that the car sat so low.

"Oh, wow! This is almost like sitting in my father's Porsche!" she exclaimed, putting on her harness.

I turned on the Delco-Bose stereo and plugged in my I-Pod. As the first whistled notes of Rammstein: "Engel" started to play, I released the parking brake, and shifted into first gear with a meaty thunk.

"Where to, Asuka?" I asked the boisterous redhead.

She looked at me with that slit eye, Cheshire cat grin and said, "Somewhere where we can go fast! I want to see how fast it goes!"

"Your wish is my command, mein Führer!" I shouted as I flipped the switch for the exhaust cutouts.

The exhaust, now free flowing from the headers, blasted dust and grit from beneath the car. It dusted the crowd still gathered around "Iron Helix" as they clamped hands over their ears and moved away.

I slowly let out the clutch, and idled away from the school.

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THIRTY MINUTES LATER:

"LET ME DRIVE!! LET ME DRIVE!!"

_I've done everything I can to scare the PISS out of her, and she STILL wants to drive!_

I pulled in to a scenic overlook and stopped the car.

_You gotta be NUTS to let a fourteen-year-old drive your pride and joy! However, if it will mend the fences between us, it might be worth it. IF she doesn't __KILL__ us._

_"_Asuka," I asked, "What kind of Porsche did you drive?"

"Father had a 911 RUFF twin-turbo that he let me drive. He wouldn't let me drive the 928, though," she wistfully acknowledged my question, her face concentrating on a past experience; her gaze looking right through me.

_A 911 RUFF TWIN-TURBO!!??? THAT MONSTER WOULD RUN __RINGS__ AROUND ME! AND HE __GAVE__ IT TO HER??_

Hoping that I'm not making a decision of terminal stupidity, I told her: "OK Asuka, keep it under fifty-five hundred on the tach, and try not to kill both of us."

She snapped out of her memory with a shake of her head, and got _that_ scary look on her face.

As we played Chinese-Fire Drill, and she slid into the driver's seat, I thought about that look she had on her face.

_Just like when she saw the angel with Shinji on the "Over the Rainbow," and then she said "Wunderbar."_

In a low, throaty voice, as she buckled-up the Simpson harness, she smirked: "Wunderbar!"

I felt the hackles on the back of my neck rise. An ice-cold shiver ran up and down my spine.

_WHAT DID I JUST DO???!!!_

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TWENTY-EIGHT MINUETS LATER:

We changed seats again, and were speeding back into the city. I don't want Asuka to get a ticket for exceeding the speed limit. Especially since she has no driver's license at this time.

_My GOD!! THIS GIRL CAN DRIVE!! _

_She didn't scare me as bad as Takumi, but she's better than I am! I think I'm going to ask her if she will drive with me as my navigator. Kind of like "Impact Blue" from Initial D. At least it would give her something else to do. And give her an outlet when things get bad in the future. AND GIVE SHINJI A BREAK! _

I looked over at Asuka sitting in her contoured bucket, strapped in tightly. She had a carefree look in her eyes; her face was devoid of the cares and worries of the day. She was in bliss.

_I WILL do this! If only to see her this way again. _

A tear ran down my right cheek as I looked at her.

_I wonder if this is how one feels for a sister? She is obnoxious, rude, loud, and always wants her own way, but I care for her. I don't want to see her hurt like she is going to be._

_I was an only child in my own world, but I think this is what it would feel like to have and care for a sister. We are too much alike, her and I._

As I slowed down to city speeds, rolling into more populated areas, I thumbed in Metallica: "Unforgiven" on my I-Pod. I turned in to a roadsideramen stand, stopped, and set the emergency brake and turned to look at Asuka.

"Asuka," I explained, "I'm going to be practicing driving every morning, and I'd like you to come with me. I'll have a professional driver coaching me on the weekends, and it would be nice if I could have a supporting driver with me. You drive at least as well as I do now, but you may be able to pick-up some techniques from my sessions. I would really like to have someone sitting in the right seat to keep me from getting too cocky. Will you help me?"

She scrunched up her face like she just bit into a lemon.

"Help you!?? Why should I? I'm already better than..."

"You get to drive my car with a professional driver." I interrupted. "And it's not like Misato is going to let you drive her crappy Renault. Come on, it beats being bored, doesn't it?"

"Since you put it that way, why not?" she snidely remarks. "It's not like you're going to get better than I am now. And, with the pro driver, I'll only get better! You're on Forth...ah .. Kurokawa!"

"Thank you, Asuka." I replied, my vision gone blurry from the emotions I'm feeling.

She looked over at me, saw the raw emotions playing over my face, and hesitantly said, "You're welcome Kurokawa. Isn't it about time to head home?"

"Yah, Schwester. Just wanted to get this out in the open."

"Ach..You're no bruder of mine!"

As we entered our neighborhood, I engaged the cutouts and dropped two gears, from fifth to third. The turbos spooled up with a banshee shriek as the exhaust proclaimed our presence to the world. Smoke billowed from tortured rubber as 1200 horsepower tried to bury us into the Recaro buckets. Tach reaching 6500 RPM, I speed shifted to fourth and floored the pedal. One glance at Asuka is all I needed: mashed into the seat, arms clutching the center console and the door grip, her feet mimicked my own actions, as if she was driving herself. Face set in concentration, a maniacal grin plastered across it, she was ecstatic with the sensations of driving.

_I have never seen her so happy. I'm happy for you Asuka. I'll do what I can to protect you, my sister._

We roared into Misato's parking area for the apartment complex. Shinji and Misato heard us coming, so they met us in the lot. Asuka looked at me and winked with her cat-grin, then whispered, just loud enough for me to hear over the engine: "Back to normal, ne?"

She climbed out unsteadily, turned to Shinji and Misato, pointed back at me and shrieked: "Mein Gott!! He drives worse than you do, Misato! I have bruises on top of bruises from those sehr unbequem seat belts he made me wear! And, I lost my favorite A-2 connectors! The wind just RIPPED them out of my HAIR!!"

I blipped the throttle twice, set the E-brake, and shut down the beast. I looked at Misato, strait in the eye; gave her my famous evil grin, and chuckled maniacally.

Misato was frozen in shock; jaw looking like it may have come unhinged. She looked at me and I could see the emotions flickering over her face: surprise, disbelief, anger, envy, determination. With that last emotion firmly fixed on her visage, she marched up to the car, leaned down to put her head in the window, and screamed in my ear:

**"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!! HOW THE HELL DO YOU HAVE A CAR!! AND DON'T TELL ME YOU HAVE A DRIVERS LICENCE!!??"**

Cringing from the assault on my eardrums, I sheepishly handed her my International License. She ripped it from my hand and started examining it as if it were a forgery.

I could see Shinji and Asuka off to the side having a conversation that wasn't interspersed with yelling and slaps. And she still looked happy.

_Hope Shinji appreciates the calm Asuka. I know I do._

My attention was ripped from my fellow pilots as Misato found something she didn't like, and became vocally abusive about it.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THIS...THIS...WHERE WAS IT ISSUED TO YOU AT!!??" her bellow was like a hurricane in the enclosed space of the cockpit.

I riffled through HIS memories and remembered signing for the forms at a place familiar to both of us. Time had changed it somewhat, but I still recognized Base Operations at Nellis A.F.B. in Nevada.

"I was issued it at Nellis, while I was training there." I replied with a small smile on my face. Said smile dies a gruesome death with her next comment.

"Did you know that you are in the military of a foreign power? AND AN OFFICER AT THAT!!!!! MY GOD, THEY MADE YOU A CAPTAIN!! IN THE AIR FORCE, OF ALL THINGS!"

Instantly, I turned white as parchment. The memories flooded my brain with information that HE buried as not being important. However, to me the information was like a sledgehammer on my already fragile self-confidence.

_...tasked to be the front line defense of the United States in case of Angel attack...two man rule for handling nuclear weapons...since minimum rank for this responsibility is a Captain; we hereby promote you...two man rule for command and control...Weaponeer position responsibility entails the ability to assess threats and counter them with...you are being given the responsibility of having more firepower than...you will be autonomous in your operations; you may not have time to contact the Joint Chiefs for permission to fire...Unit 04 is a command and control unit, responsible for and in command of Unit 03..._

I turned pasty-white; my heart rate must have been in the 180's, as a frigid chill encompassed my body and mind. My throat clenched tight to keep my racing heart from leaping out of it. I now knew and understood my role here.

_It's just like when I was in the military before, all the responsibility and no understanding of the consequences of my decisions. Except this time, I know what can happen here. And this time, I'M the one in command, making decisions on the future of the human race._

At that point, Misato looked at me and saw the abject fear written on my face. She was saying something, but I couldn't hear it; I was still wrapped in my own fear of responsibility.

_Now the additions to my bi-monthly nightmare make sense. Unit 04 is a walking arsenal of nuclear destruction. Moreover, I have the keys to unleash it. With the consent of my Pilot/Mission Commander._

I whipped my head around to face Misato, startling her with the suddenness of my movement. In a shaky voice, with the fear clutching my heart, I asked her:

"Misato, who is my pilot?"

She looked at me with confusion, as if the question was in Italian.

"WHO'S MY PILOT, MISATO!! IT'S A TWO-MAN PLUG!! WHO IS THE MISSION COMMANDER!!???" I screamed at her, as my hands tried to crush the doorsill with a white-knuckled death grip.

"I don't know what you're talking about Masahiro; you are the pilot of Unit 04. Why would we put another person in the plug with you?"

_MY GOD, SHE DOESN'T KNOW! AND THEY HAVE FORCED ME INTO BEING JUDGE, JURY, AND EXECUTIONER, ALL IN ONE._

_No support, no second opinion, no questioning of my decisions, be they right or wrong._

_I am in sole command of the weapon systems._

What was left of my undigested lunch was brutally thrown from my stomach as I retched over the steering wheel and my pants. Over the heaving of my guts, I could also feel the seat getting warm and wet under me.

_Please God; I do not want this responsibility! I'm only fourteen...ugh..whatever. I need help! I can't make these decisions myself! _

_**"ROGER"**_

I looked around tearfully for the voice I know.

_**"Calm your mind. Have I not told you that I would help you? You will not have to do this alone. I have seen to that. Be still, and rest. You have learned much today. Your mind is shutting down from too much information. I will help you to understand."**_

"**Lilith**," I whispered, as I felt a wave of warmth flow over me. Then blackness overwhelmed me.

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I woke up in Shinji's room, dressed in my yukata. I had no recollection of getting there or changing out of my clothes. Thinking about that, I took a good sniff of myself. No lingering smells of vomit or voiding myself. SOMEONE must have bathed me while I was out. And I could guess who. I slightly turned red as I thought about Misato cleaning me up from my self-imposed mess.

_She is just like a mother, taking care of her children... DAMN! That means she sees me in the same light as she sees Shinji and Asuka... It's good to feel cared for again. I haven't felt like this since...a long time ago. _

As I turned my introspection outwards, I felt as though I was being watched. I scanned the room to find Shinji, looking at me.

"Since you're awake...I'll.. I'll tell Misato you're up," he stuttered as he got up off the floor and started walking towards the door.

"Shinji," I asked, "do you remember how you felt when they told you why they wanted you here and what they wanted you to do during your first activation?"

"Ummm...yeah." he mumbled, staring at the floor frowning in thought, while his right hand clenched and released unconsciously.

"I had all those feelings like you had hit me all at once. I'm afraid my mind isn't as resilient as yours is. I just kind of snapped from realizing all the responsibilities. I'm still finding it hard to believe that I'm fighting to keep humanity alive. And if I screw up, we're all dead. It's a lot for a kid like me to handle."

_And a lot for a grown man to handle, also. I was enlisted before. All I had to do was follow orders. Now as an officer, I have to make command decisions._

"It's not like ...you'll be doing this all alone. Me and Asuka and Ayanami will be there to help, too," he answered quietly, finally looking up to meet my eyes.

_Shinji, you are not responsible for the launch of nuclear weapons. And I doubt that the rest of the pilots can help me with these decisions. I know that you mean well, but this is my own alligator to deal with in this swamp._

"I'll go get Misato, now." He then turned and left the room. As I watched him leave, I saw a flash of red by the doorway.

_Still can't show your feelings, can you Asuka?_

Misato made her way into the room, but before she could say anything, I asked her to help me to get to my apartment.

_May as well bring her into the small, select few who know all about me._

With my guts knotted-up, Misato helped me out of the bed. As we left Shinji's room, the two pilots looked at me. Shinji with a look of understanding and commiseration, while Asuka looked on with some caring and questioning on her visage. Misato dragged me to the door, hit the release, and the door retracted into the wall.

"I'm taking him home. I'll be back shortly," she said softly, as she rearranged her hold on me. She got a better grip on my skinny body, and moved me into the hallway, the door whispered shut behind us.

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**A/N:**

Choko: Shallow cup in which sake is served

Tokkuri: Flask or decanter in which sake is stored out of the bottle

Hampa-ja nai: Awesome

Führer und Reichskanzler:

[Mid-20th century. German_ Führer_ "leader," a title (in full_ Führer und Reichskanzler_ "Leader and Chancellor of the Empire") adopted by Adolf Hitler, leader of the German National Socialist Party before and during World War II

Mein Gott: My God

sehr unbequem: damned uncomfortable

Rammstein: Engel

and

Metallica: Unforgiven

Do not belong to me. They are owned by their respective copyright owners.

**END: A/N**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

For disclaimer see chapter one.

Rated M for violence, language, and mature themes within dream sequences.

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"So, mind telling me what that little "episode" in your car was about? I'm getting tired of dragging your half-dead ass out of various places. If I didn't know better, I would say you did this on purpose, to get attention."

Misato had brought me back to my apartment and sat me down on my couch. Seeing her standing over me with her Operations Director game face on, I quickly came to the conclusion that this may not be the best time to spill the beans about my dual personality.

'_Yeah, keep this shit up and I will be having a long talk with Doctor Akagi.' _

"Misato, I just had too much information creep up on me at once. All of this Eva crap was like a game when I was in the United States. It didn't seem real then; just training for a possible activation. You guys were taking care of the Angels over here, and it seemed like we wouldn't be deployed any time soon. Now that I'm here, it's like I got dropped into a bad episode of "The Twilight Zone"."

Confusion clearly written upon her beautiful face, she then shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Whatever," she then flatly stated to my hunched form.

"Do you think you have a grip on it now, or do we need to go for some counseling with Ritsuko?"

"I…I'm alright now. You better get back and check on Shinji and Asuka. I'm going to bed." Misato gave me the hairy eyeball, but didn't question me further. I could hear her go into the Genkan and slide her shoes on. A barely audible hiss from the door, and she was gone.

'Great. Everyone thinks I'm mental now. This is not good. I have to somehow get back into the good graces of the Captain before she has me committed.'

Still considering my actions of the day, I slipped into a fitful sleep.

-- Dreamscape:

I found myself standing outside Brasko's Tavern, on what seemed to be an October afternoon. I could see Halloween decorations adorning the outside of the bar, while a soft wind gently rustled the multi-coloured leaves on the oak trees in the parking lot. The cars in the lot were from the middle Sixties to about mid-Seventies. And one was a dragon's-blood red metallic 1968 Chevelle Malibu station wagon. The second car I bought after my 1967 Plymouth Satellite died.

I slowly walked over to my old car and looked in the window. On the back seat were two firearms hard cases, probably my shotgun, and my pistol. Recollecting some fond memories that I had with that car, I then headed for the side door of the tavern. Reaching for the door handle, my gaze was stopped by two motorcycles parked at the side of the building. Alarm bells and sirens started going off in my head as I regarded the two Harleys.

'What the hell?? Why am I getting bad vibes off these bikes? What the hell happened back then that would trigger me into caution mode? Aaahh… this is just a dream anyway, who cares.'

Entering the bar, I walked over to the far left side and sat in the shadows. I then started scanning the crowd, looking to find myself.

And there I was, sitting at the bar with two biker types.

The hackles rose on the back of my neck.

Memories from thirty-two years in the past leapt into the forefront of my mind.

'These were the guys that ripped me off for my class ring! I didn't do anything because they were flying colours. I was pissed about that for years!'

I was shocked back to reality as I heard myself say, "Give it back!"

The two snickered, and the one on the right said, "Or what? You gonna call the cops?"

I stood up and started moving towards my younger self. But before I could move more than a few feet, my younger self stood up and slightly turned towards the guy on the left. I then got my first good look at what I looked like when I was eighteen.

Shock and fear stopped my movement and rooted me to the spot.

The younger me was flickering in my vision. His hair was shifting between red and black. The eye that I could see changed between green and brown. His skin tone changed from a tanned brown to an … Asian tone? Time seemed to slow as I watched, slack-jawed, as my doppelganger slowly grasped his bottle of Guinness in his left hand, while his right snaked out to grab the eight inch cast glass ash-tray.

A guttural scream leapt out of his throat as he backhanded the goon on the left with his beer bottle. A frothy explosion of white tinged with red surrounded the left temple of the biker.

At the same time, he hammered the second idiot in the jaw with the ash tray. Dropping both articles of now shattered glass, both hands cut-up and bloody, he used his left hand to drive a hammer fist punch to the solar plexus of the second biker.

'_WHAT THE FUCK?? I'M NOT LEFT-HANDED!!'_

The ersatz me then reached into his right armpit, and withdrew a shining piece of blue steel which I knew of quite well. While he was staring at the second biker, I could see that the first one was recovering, and drawing a knife.

That movement must have been seen, because at that point, my younger self smashed the barrel of the Springfield Armory 45ACP into his elbow. A high-pitched scream was heard, which suddenly stopped as he then pistol-whipped the first goon in the temple. There was a sickening crunch, as blood sprayed across the bar.

He turned his attention back to the second man as he roughly grabbed and twisted his arm onto the table.

"Give me back my ring."

"Fuck you, you little piece of shit! When my brothers hear about… AAIEEE!!"

CRUNCH

"Now you don't have a left elbow. Makes it kinda hard to ride a bike, doesn't it? Wanna try for the right?"

"You are so dead, asshole!"

"WRONG ANSWER!!"

The silence in the bar was shattered by two gunshots.

"How you like having two holes the size of quarters in your thighs, ne? I still have six rounds in the clip. How about I shoot you in the balls? It'll only take you three days to die, since they can't use a tourniquet down there. Three excruciating days to remember what you did, and who you pissed off. Look at your buddy."

My red headed avatar then walked over to the first thug. He calmly shoved the barrel of the 45 in the thug's mouth, and then pulled the trigger. A muffled pop resonated through the bar as blood and grey matter jetted from the ruptured skull of the erstwhile Harley rider.

"Heh, looks like he's gone for a Burton."

With a maniacal smile, the red head returned to the second "victim", and in a low voice stated:

"I worry about nothing, and you are less than that."

Slamming the pistol down on the bar, and seizing the biker by the throat, he shouted, "GIVE ME BACK MY RING!!"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!!"

"Oh… hello Roger. Want to beat some common courtesy into this asshole?"

Looking at this scarlet-haired spectre who had no qualms of committing murder in a public place, I shivered as I asked:

"Who the hell are you, and how do you know my name?"

The red head turned to fully face me and I could now see his complete face. The face which I had been staring at in the mirror for the last eight days.

"Yes, you are me, and I am you. Did you think I would just curl-up and die, when you were shoved into my body? Fat chance. I have been waiting for my chance to be able to talk with you, old man."

The bar, bikers, and patrons all faded into nothingness as we stared each other down.

"So, what was the point of all of that?", I asked Masahiro.

"You have malevolence that you keep deeply buried, don't you? You _wanted_ to do that to them, back then. I can help you. You are going to need my help, sooner or later. Do you think you can synch with Unit-04 by yourself? She will see that you aren't me, and will reject you. You have less than a week, and she will be here. Then Ikari will take you apart, down to the nerve ends, to find out why you can't synch with your own Unit. Let me be in control when we use the Evangelion. You don't have the stomach for the killing, anyway."

"And besides, My Mission Commander will soon be shipped to Tokyo-3. Do you think you will be able to pull the wool over _her_ eyes? My comrade-in –arms, my friend, my LOVER!! Say the wrong thing, don't perform correctly in bed, miss a cue when piloting, and Jody will rat you out to Ikari and the Americans so fast that your head will spin."

As Masahiro rants on, I see glimpses of a girl. She was about our height, with strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes. Eyes that seem to be too old for her age. I then see snapshot-quick peeks of her:

_In a Woodland camouflage-pattern plug suit in our locker room; she pulls up the hood for it and slowly and completely disappears into the background._

_Nude, covered in sweat, on her hands and knees, she grunts as she slams her ass into my crotch while I thrust into her from behind._

_Sitting in the underground Command Post while gnawing on a mechanical pencil, studying targets and escape-and-evasion routes._

_Looking at me with a feral smile as we both turn our keys in unison, launching a simulated nuclear strike on Gaghiel, the sixth Angel._

_Sitting on her vintage Honda CBX Interstate in a Teknic Viper one-piece racing suit, her Simpson Street Bandit helmet under her arm._

"This is First Lieutenant Jody Anderson, United States Army. She is MY Mission Commander and pilot of Unit-04! Think you can handle a fourteen-year old EVA pilot who ALWAYS has her hormones up?"

"…"

"I thought not. Go away, you ignorant baka Gaijin. You have my body now, but there will be a reckoning when Jody gets here."

With that last warning ringing in my ears, I saw Masahiro fade away to nothingness. I then fell into a dreamless sleep.

A/N:

Sorry for taking so long, but the muse fled from me for a while.

The plot thickens at this point, with my avatar finding out he has another resident within his skull. And that he probably has no chance of synching with his own Unit without help. Fun and more fun.

Next Chapter:

'Why me, God?'

Please read and review.

Jintsu

I hate this so-called word processing #&t that they use here. My formatting and spacing are f&ed-up beyond belief!

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